DC Prime: Reign of Krypton
by DC Prime Universe
Summary: First Event of the DC Prime Universe: Superman is gone, the world has fallen to the invading forces of the new Kryptonian empire under the command of general Zod, and all forms of human military or government have been swept away. Now, only a rag tag group of Earths remaining heroes under the leadership of Batman remain to combat the Kryptonian occupation.
1. Prelude 1: GL & Flash

**REIGN OF KRYPTON #0.1**

"**Calm Before the Storm Part 1: Flash& GL"**

**Written by Ivan Krolo**

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><p><strong>*Editors Note 1: This story takes place after the current run on GL &amp; Flash by CaptainTightpats12<strong>

***Editors Note 2: The lead up to this event has been built up to in the DC Prime: Superman tittle, reading it, though not mandatory, will help explain certain changes to various Kryptonian characters and backstory.**

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><p><strong>Central City, 12:36 CTD<strong>

"Oh my god! It's ssoooo booorrriinnggg!" Exclaims an annoyed Wally, while wearing his Kid Flash costume, as he races across the city streets with his uncle Barry, the Flash, running slightly ahead of him, and chuckles at his nephew's statement as they avoid everything from the cars to the civilians on their daily patrol.

"Trust me Kid, once the first couple months of excitement pass, you'll be begging for a nice and boring day like this one all the time." The two zigzag around a large group of vehicles waiting for the stop light to turn green.

"Oh c'mon boss, we're superheroes! There's no way this could ever **not **be exciting!"

Before Barry can respond to his partner, the radio inside his earpiece goes off. "All units please respond, a robbery is in progress at the Central City Main Bank, eye witness accounts suggest that the Rogues are the ones behind it, approach with extreme caution."

Barry turns to his nephew with a serious look on his face. "Looks like you'll be seeing some action today Kid."

Immediately the teens frown was replaced by a big pleased smile. "Yes!" He exclaims to while following his mentor to the bank, both increasing their speed to arrive there quicker. In a matter of seconds, they're close enough to the bank, and spot the Rogues running out of it with large bags of money towards a car.

"Looks like its Cold, Tricker, Mirror Master, Boomerang, and Heat wave this time." Says Barry as the two approach their foes while they're busy putting in the money from their heist into the getaway car.

"I'll dismantle the wheels so they can't get away, you keep them busy alright?"

"Got it!" He nods at his mentor, and splits off from him to take a separate route via another r street while Barry speeds up to take out the car. Noticing his foe from the driver's window, Cold scowls at him before opening the top hatch of the car, and firing on him from there while the Rogues put all the money in.

"You're not stopping us this time Flash!" He yells as his weapon freezes the ground in front of the car, forming a giant and ever growing wall of ice between the vehicle and the speedster.

"Colds not gonna stop firing that thing, guess its time to take a little detour." Barry thinks before vibrating through a nearby building left of the ice wall, and emerging through it a couple seconds later with a smirk on his face much to Colds annoyance.

"Now he can't freeze anything without trapping himself, and the others in that spot." Barry thinks before running at the annoyed Cold, he turns around to call the others to his aid only to see all of them minus Captain Boomerang knocked out by Kid Flash.

"Man you guys are really not on you A game today!" KF exclaims as he casually avoids the boomerangs tossed at him while Captain Boomerang snarls at him in anger. "You annoying little bugger! Stand still or I—"

Before he can finish his sentence, KF runs behind him and using his increased strength, performs a wedgie on him while he screams in pain much to Wally's amusement.

"Oh that's low mate!" He exclaims while kneeling on floor, and trying to ease the pain in his behind while Wally stands next to him with his hands on his hips with a smirk.

"Sorry dude, I always wanted to try it and you were just in the wrong place, at the wrong time." Knowing that Barry might berate him for playing around too much, Wally kicks Boomerang in the face, knocking him out too not drag the battle out.

Cold's left eye twitches in anger at the sight before he unleashes a yell of pure rage at the top of his lungs. "As if one of you wasn't bad enough, now there's this kid too! What's next, a Flash Girl?"

Wally rubs his chin while turning around to face Captain Cold. "A Flash Girl eh… I love it! She can be the Batgirl to my Robin!" At that, instant Flash himself appears next to his protégé with his arms crossed. "Hey chief, can we please have a Flash Gi—"

"No way, it's hard enough keeping track of you as is, having another one deal with, by the way *he turns to the disgruntled Cold* your tires are gone."

Gulping at the thought of things getting worse, Cold cautiously looks around the car and feels his heart sink upon noticing that the tires are indeed gone. "There are no words to describe how much I hate you guys right now."

Knowing he's pretty much lost at this point, Cold climbs on top of the car and points his gun at the two speedsters while putting the weapon at maximum power. "Might as well make my last stand a worth while oneAAAAGGGGHHH!"

Suddenly he finds himself floating several feet off the ground as green chains wrap around his body, causing him to drop his gun in the process. He tries break through them to no avail when he sees the one responsible for this descends from the sky.

"Green Lantern?! Oh c'mon! Why the hell are you here?"

"Just passing by to say hi to my buddy, now hold still *a large baseball bat construct forms from his ring with Hal smirking* cause I've always wanted to try this and I don't want you to ruin it for me!

Removing the chains from Cold, Hal swings the giant bat and sends the villain flying across the street and right into a dumpster as the police converge on the bank to deal with the situation.

"Does he always show off like that?" Asks Wally while Barry laughs at the sight.

"Pretty much, but you get used to it, especially if it's funny like this." He points to the police dragging a dazed Captain Cold out of the dumpster much to hero's amusement. Hal descends from the sky, landing next to the speedsters and performs a secret handshake of sorts with Barry.

"Flash my man! It's been a while since you and I cracked some bad guy skulls together!"

"Kinda hard when you're always off fighting aliens and traveling the universe Han Solo style." He retorts.

"Yeah, yeah, you can act all witty about if it if you want, but I bet you'd kill to go into outer space."

"You'd lose that bet, I'll keep my feet planted firmly here on Terra Nova thank you very much. Besides, id have to take this guy with me too *he points his thumb to Wally* and I'm not sure the universe is ready for him."

"You bet its not!" Exclaims a pleased Wally. "Those alien guys you hang out with would be in awe of my earthly awesomeness too much to do their jobs right!"

"So this is your partner I've been hearing about eh, name—"Hal extends his hand with Wally immediately grabbing it and shaking it at super speed excitedly.

"Green Lantern, I know! I've been dying to meet you ever since the boss here took me under his wing! Please tell me there's a kid GL or Green Nightlight I can have team ups with too!"

Hal merely rubs the back of his head, and chuckles. "Sorry Kid, no side kicks yet but if I get one you'll be the first to know, I promise."

Wally's smile vanishes as he stops shaking Hal's hand. "Oh… okay, man, why do I keep getting shafted of all the partners?"

The older hero's chuckle as Wally contemplates the reasoning for this only for it to be interrupted by Hal's ring glowing, which catches their attention. "Alert, alert! Extra dimensional activity detected in the planets stratosphere, threat level omega, code black!"

"Uhh, what does that mean?" Asks a worried Wally while Hal gets a serious look on his face.

"It means something from another dimension is breaking through into ours and it's gotta be some thing real bad if the rings going crazy like this."

Then a loud static noise is heard going off all over the place from police radios, to nearby phones and televisions with even the ring noticing it. Barry tries to turn the sound off his to prevent the noise in his ear to no avail when it stops.

The ring creates a small projection of what ever is responsible for it, revealing a middle-aged man with black hair, alien armor covering most of his body and a symbol resembling the one worn by Superman.

"Oh this can't be good…" States a nervous Wally while he and everyone else either watch or listen in on what's happening.

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><p><strong>To be continued next issue with a special team up between Batman &amp; Zatanna in the hours leading up to Reign!<strong>


	2. Prelude 2: Batman & Zatanna

**REIGN OF KRYPTON #0.2**

"**Calm Before the Storm: Batman & Zatanna"**

**Written by Ivan Krolo**

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><p><strong>*Editors Note 1: this story takes place after current run of DC Prime: Batman by Ivan Krolo and the current arc of DC Prime: Zatanna Mistress of Magic by Bodhi Ouellette*<strong>

**Gotham City, 01:00 EDT**

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Says a nauseated Zatanna as she drudges through the filthy waters of the Gotham City sewer system with her old friend Batman, walking a few feet ahead of her while examining the surrounding area via the x-ray vision in his cowl lenses.

"Honestly, how are you not throwing up from the smell of this place?" She puts her hand over her mouth to fight the urge to vomit.

He lets out a small chuckle, and smirks before stating. "Believe me; once you swim through these waters without a breathing mask and a few broken ribs, the smell is the last thing that'll ever bother you down here."

The mere thought makes Zatanna shiver in disgust. "Are you sure this Deacon Blackfire is a real sorcerer? Cause he sounds like just another all bark, and no bite fake cult leader guy you can find everywhere these days."

"I thought that too, but then everything changed when I managed to infiltrate a meeting he was holding a few days ago…

"And that's when I saw his power for myself…."

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><p><strong>5 days earlier, Gotham City, 03:57 EDT<strong>

Bruce stands in a large crowd of homeless people gathered inside the Monarch Theater in the place which was once a gathering spot for the upper class of Gotham is now another of the many abandoned, dilapidated buildings spread all over the city. A fate awarded to it after the deaths of the Wayne's made its core clientele hesitant to ever go near it again.

Now the theater finds itself the gathering place of a much lower class of folk for a more nefarious purpose; the inside adorned with demonic imagery from occult symbols to demonic creatures drawn all over the walls in what appears to be blood.

Bruce clenches his fist in anger at the sight that the place where his parents died is desecrated in such a way made his blood boil though his exterior appearance is entirely calm. As he waits for the _"ceremony"_ to begin, he listens in on the people conversing below via the batarangs he placed around the interior to find more information about this "Lord Blackfire".

"Do you think Lord Blackfire will arrive soon?"

"We are so lucky to participate in such a historic event, brother!"

"At least we don't have to meet up in the god damn sewers anymore."

Then an old man in his 80s with long white hair tied into a ponytail, and clad in the robes of a priest appears on the stage, getting the attention of everyone in the room. All the chatter from the audience immediately dies down when he raises his hand.

"I thank you all for coming here tonight my children!" He says revealing his southern accent.

"I hope you are all doing well in these dark and troubling times we find ourselves in, for it has certainly not been easy. Corruption continues to grow at the highest seats of power in Gotham. Those who should protect do nothing, and now masquerading lunatics prey on you *he points at the audience, his finger tracing from left to right* the people."

He receives many agreements from the audience ranging from nods to yells.

"But no more, my children!" he yells. "Soon, we shall have our vengeance on those who have wronged us! Our numbers will grow, and we will purify this city of all the wretches corrupting it!"

Yells of agreement and praise erupt from the audience, much to Bruce's confusion given the poor, and cliché quality of the speech. He looks around, and immediately notices the mesmerized looks on their faces and the blank, lifeless look in their eyes.

"He's brainwashing them, but how…?" He turns his attention back to Deacon, and notices a pair of men place a large black cauldron next to him before leaving the stage. Deacon places his hand inside then pulls it out revealing his bloody hand.

"This *he extends his bloody palm outward* my children is the secret to immortality. Place your faith in me… and you shall be able to do this!"

Removing his shirt, Deacon runs his bloody hand over his face before beginning a chat in Latin, his voice becoming deeper and more demonic sounding as he recites an incantation neither Bruce nor the audience present can understand. The blood inside the cauldron begins to levitate out of it like a series of tentacles before latching on to the bare skin on Deacon's face, and hands.

The temperature in the room drops so low their breath is visible, the blood engulfs him entirely, and then as the chat begins to die down, the blood fades away revealing Deacon's changed appearance. Where he once looked like a decrepit old man, now he has the face and body of a man in his prime, though his hair remains the same white color.

"Behold! True immortality for me and now *he points his index finger at the crowd* for all of you loyal to me!"

A round of applause erupts from the crowd though Bruce merely scowls at the occultist con man. "This farce has gone on long enough."

He puts a small gas mask over his mouth before pressing a button on his gauntlet, the batarangs he placed inside begin releasing tear gas, which quickly engulfs the inside of the building, everyone but Bruce starts coughing as the smoke starts scattering the people gathered within.

The holographic disguise, which gave him the appearance of an elderly man, fades away, revealing his true costume as he moves through the smoke to apprehend Deacon Blackfire who looks around frantically to make sense of the situation.

"Do not be afraid my children! This cannot stop u—"

Without warning a batarang came flying through the smoke and cuts into his shoulder, sending him falling to ground, Batman descends on him from above in an attempt to knock him out though Deacon musters the strength to roll out of the way of his punch.

"You're finished Blackfire. These sick rituals of yours end tonight!" He yells at the cultist leader much to his amusement.

"Poor deluded fool… you've no idea of what you're dealing with. Allow me to show you!"

Without warning he drives his teeth into his wrist and tears the flesh off of it, his blood bursting through as he begins reciting another incantation in Latin. Batman throws a pair of batarangs at him when they are deflected by an invisible force field surrounding Blackfire.

Batman grits his teeth, and scowls at this. "Magic," he mutters in disgust before charging at the cult leader only for a glowing glyph to appear between them on the ground, releasing a bright ray of light in the process.

The light quickly fades prompting Batman to move his cape away from his face only to find a frightening sight before him, a nine-foot tall blood eyed Taurus demon wielding a double sided battle axe towering over him with a furious look on its face.

"I hope you have a very good reason for summoning me Blackfire," It snarls at the cult leader whose appearance has changed once more to a man in his 40s as he heals the injury on his arm.

"Is the prospect of devouring a strong soul reason enough, old friend?"

"I'll be the judge of that." The creature inches its face closer to Batman who moves his hands closer to his belt in anticipation for an attack only for the demon to take a sniff of him before smirking.

"A strong soul indeed... Very well Blackfire, I accept your tribute." The creature smiles before taking its axe in both hands. "You may go."

The cult leader smirks before running off to the back entrance of the theater, Batman attempts to attack him with another pair of batarangs only for the demon to bring his axe down, forcing him to back flip out of its way.

Landing at the spot where the now scattered crowd was gathered, Batman contacts the cave. "Thomas, I need—"

"He's not here boss; whaddya need?" States Barbara over the com channel while Batman rolls out of the way of the demons charge before responding with, "What do you mean he's not there?"

"He's… making a sandwich for Dick…"

"I'm going to *he ducks to avoid the axe thrown at him by the demon* make that kid pay for this," He angrily thinks before tossing a few smoke pellets to help put some distance between the two while he runs for the main door.

"Is that a minotaur coming after you?" Asks an excited Barbara while her mentor narrowly dodges another axe throw though this one manages to cut off the top part of his left ear, the creatures laughs at this, exclaiming "You're quick on your feet mortal, usually your kind are dead after my first blow."

Ignoring the creatures boast, Batman runs past the pinned down axe and smashes open the doors of the theatre with his shoulder, before firing his grappling hook at a nearby rooftop.

"Batgirl, I need you to take control of the jet, and bring it to my position," he states upon reaching the rooftop though the demon lands before him after performing a mighty jump. It tries to swing its axe only for Batman to active the explosive gel he placed on it when he ran passed it, causing three explosions to go off at the demons palm.

"Aaarrgghhh!" It yells before dropping its weapon to the ground; however, it is not enough to stop him from swinging his left hand, smacking Batman with it across the gap between rooftops and through a brick wall.

"Damn…" He mutters while trying to get back on his feet though the pain throughout his body makes it difficult for him, the demon jumps across the gap with its axe in hand and raises it in an attempt to behead Batman.

The Dark Knight manages to roll out of the way and toss a pair of explosive batarangs at its head, though this only dazes him for a moment. Trying to press this advantage, Batman runs up behind the creatures and wraps his cape over its entire head, unleashing a massive surge of electricity directly to its brain.

It growls in anger as the electricity courses through its body before it manages to chew through the cape, just before Batman can fall on his back, the demon grabs his tattered cape from behind and like a rag doll, smashes the caped crusader against the floor before tossing him in a nearby alley.

"Bruce!" exclaims Barbara as she sees a sharp drop in his vitals just as the jet reaches his position. He fires his grappling gun at a nearby wall, managing to negate most of the damage he would've taken from the landing though this matters little given his already received injuries.

As he kneels there with blood dripping out of his mouth and nose, he notices the marked spot where his parents were murdered and a sudden rush of energy starts surging through his body when the demon lands just before the spot with a smile on its face.

"Ahh… I sense a change in your spirit mortal, I can smell the mix of rage and despair consuming your spirit; tell me, what importance does this backwater alley have for you?"

"None… of your damn… business…" He matter of factly responds to the demons amusement.

"Oh well, not like it matters, when I take your soul all will be revealed to me *it licks the right blade of the axe* now then, ready to die?"

"Not yet I'm not!" Using his anger to his advantage, Batman musters just enough strength to slide under the giant's feet just as it tries to bring its axe down, and tosses a tracking device on its back. "Barbara! Fire the jets grappling hook at it!"

Doing as she is told, Barbara fires the grappling hook of the Batwing right through the creatures shoulder, causing it to yell in pain as she lefts him off the ground and away from her injured mentor. "I got him! What do I do now?"

"You worthless scum sucking mortals think you can do this to ME? I will kill every single damn one of you and ensure your wretched souls rot in purgatory for all ti—"

Suddenly, the same light, which summoned the creature, envelops him as he continues struggling to pull out the large hook protruding out of his shoulder until he completely vanishes.

"Uhh, what just happened?" asks a confused Barbara as she lowers the jets hook closer to her wounded mentor lying on the ground. He grabs hold of it and upon getting close enough, manages to climb into the cockpit.

"We'll figure that out later, first…. Get me home and then… tell Alfred to call Zatanna…"

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><p><strong>Present Day, Gotham City, 1:10 ETD<strong>

"Yikes, you okay?"

"I'll be okay when this nutcase is dealt with, given what I've told you, how do we fight this guy?"

She puts crosses her arms as she starts thinking it through. "You said he used his own blood to summon the Taurus demon right?"

"Yes." They climb down to a lower level via a ladder.

"And he got older after doing it?"

He gives her an affirmative grunt.

"Then he's definitely a sacrificial type sorcerer, those guys usually use either their own bodies or souls or those of others to perform higher level spell usually outside of their natural ball park. Summoning in particular drains a lot out of them, which is probably why that demon disappeared."

Then a loud growl echoes throughout sewer, stopping them in their tracks and prompting Batman to triangulate his position to the jet flying above.

"Sounds like his friends already here," quips Zatanna.

"So it seems."

"You scared?" She asks with a smile on her face though Batman doesn't bother looking away from his holo computer.

"I don't get scared." He closes his computer before walking forward until the reached the spot where the growl came from with a

On a large platform stands a young Deacon Blackfire with the Taurus demon sitting on its edge and feasting on human flesh from a pile of corpses while his master drains the blood out of several of his drugged and sleeping followers into cylinders while they lay on rat and blood covered ground below.

"How much longer do I have stay here, Blackfire? I grow weary of eating these worthless excuses for flesh. Where are the strong souls you promised me?" He snarls at its summoner, tossing a half-eaten corpse into the water below while wiping the blood off its mouth.

"First we have to deal with Batman and those sidekicks of his. Once he's taken care of you will have all the souls I've promised you and more."

"Even Batman's?"

"Even Batman's; he should be arriving soon if my brainwashed minions were able to relay the information to him as I ordered them to."

Unbeknownst to them, Batman himself is able to listen in on their conversation via the sound receiver in his cowls earpieces. "Blackfire knows we're coming for him, he intends to finish me off here before moving on with the rest of his plan."

"Does he know about me?"

"Probably not, which is good for us since you're the one who's dealing with him, leave the Minotaur to me." He activates his holo computer once again, pressing several buttons before closing it again before walking to the edge of the

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather let me take care of this? That thing kinda almost killed you the last time you tried fighting it."

"Don't worry about me; I've got something that'll even the odds." She smirks before running off the edge, using his cape to glide down before landing in front of his prey while Zatanna uses a teleportation spell to get behind them while they are pre-occupied with Batman.

The demon lets out a chuckle before tossing another body into the water and approaching the caped crusader with its axe in hand. "At last you're here, now I can kill you without any interruptions."

"You had your chance last time; I won't be giving you another." He matter of factly states to the demon who merely chuckles before charging at him while Batman takes out a small pellet out of his belt and tosses it at the demons head, instantly encasing his entire head in foam like substance.

The creature releases a muffled yell as it tries to rip off the foam with one hand and swing his axe at Batman with the other. Deacon grits his teeth at this and readies to summon another creature to aid his first one when his sleeves suddenly turns into a snake, which tries to bite him though he grabs it and bites its head off instead before spitting it out.

"Your little trick failed," he states prompting Zatanna to step out of the shadows to face him properly.

"Yeah, kinda hoped that would work out better." she raises her hand with her eyes glowing as she channels her power. "! Evaw erif tnaiG" A giant wave of flame erupts from her hands and comes at Deacon who, using his own blood creates an invisible barrier with which to shield himself.

The cult leader bites through flesh of his palm, using it along with his own restored life force to summon three more creatures to attack Zatanna after her wave of flame dies down. The creatures, resembling small red-eyed panthers charge at her.

"!em erofeb dnuorg eht no sekipS" Several rows of spikes burst from the ground, impaling the panthers prompting her to smirk while Deacon scowls at her. On the other side of the platform the demon finally manages to rib the foam off its face while Batman back flips away from one of his axe swings.

"Enough of this!" he yells. "Now you're dea—"

A loud crashing noise is heard above them making the demon take its eyes off Batman to inspect it when the ground above them breaks, with a large metallic objecting landing in-between them.

The smoke clears revealing a large brown colored armor with a height and body equal to that of the demon with a black bat insignia on its chest and a helmet resembling Batman's cowl with a red visor instead of the white eyes.

"What is the meaning of this?" it asks before the suit comes alive from the press of a button of Batman, causing it to punch the creature right in the face, shattering it's nose in the process. With his enemy temporarily dazed, Batman presses another button of the holo computer, making the suit open from the backside that allows him to jump into it.

The demon swings its hammer to the side, though even in his suit Batman manages to duck under it and rams his fist into its stomach, making it cough up blood as a result before following the punch up with a head butt.

"AARRRRGGGGHHH!" It screams before pushing Batman away and driving his axe into the suits shoulder piece, cutting deep enough to wound the caped crusaders actual shoulder ever so slightly though not enough to cleave him in half as he had intended.

"My turn," he says before running a current of electricity through his suit, and by extension, the demons axe, electrocuting it enough to make it abandon its weapon. Ripping the blade out and tossing it over the platform. Batman smashes his fists against the creatures face, knocking its teeth out before grabbing it by its horns and pulls its head to knee it in the face repeatedly.

Just as he tries to do it again, the demon grabs his knee and pushes away one of his hands from its face before lifting Batman over his head and throwing him to filthy waters below before jumping in after him.

Meanwhile, Deacon Blackfire falls to his knees, blood dripping from his cut and exposed veins as his aging accelerates once more while Zatanna fends off a large serpent wrapped around her chest. "!daeh dnuora parw elbbub ygrenE"

She yells forming an energy bubble around her head just as the serpent is about to attack her, breaking its fangs in the process before exclaiming. "!esluper ecroF"

The energy ball hastily and forcefully expands, knocking away the snake. "Phew, that was close. !egduls eht ffo epiW" The slime covering her performance suit is cleaned away much to her pleasure before she turned her attention to the wrinkling and rapidly aging Blackfire a few feet away.

"Damn… Bitch…" He says to her while starring at his deteriorating hand.

"Now that's not very nice, !ydob sih dnuora parw dna dednetxE" She exclaims, causing Deacon's clothing to transform into wrappings and completely cover him from head to toe minus the eyes and nose so he can breathe.

"There, that should keep you out of my hair for a while."

Several feet below her, in the filthy suit waters, Batman parry's the demons axe with the large shield plates coming out of his arms while it snarls in blood thirst anger. Backing him into a corner, the creature slashes his knees where the armor was weaker, making him fall on that leg.

It smirks before clashing him across the chest, and grabbing his suit by the arm, slowly crushing it while raising the axe above its head when something stops it from coming down on Batman's head. He tilts his and then sees tentacles of water wrapping around his body, slowing down his movement to a crawl.

Taking advantage of the opportunity given to him by Zatanna, he grabs the demon in the face before activating the jet propulsion in his back, causing them both to take off the ground, through the platform where Zatanna and Blackfire are and smashes the creature's entire body into the brick ceiling.

He shortly turns the propulsion off, giving him the chance to put the demon into a headlock before turning them back on and flying downward, the monster screaming as his face comes crashing down first right through the filthy sewer water and right through the concrete ground.

Falling on his back, Batman pants inside the suit with Zatanna waving at him with a smile on her face from above which makes him smile in return. Then a bright light shoots out of the water at the spot where the demon lays.

Bringing himself back to his feet, Batman notices the demon disappearing out of this plane of existence as it did in their last battle. Firing his jet propulsion, he flies back to the platform, exiting the suit upon landing when he sees Zatanna kneeling next to the remains of Deacon Blackfire, now reduced completely to ash.

"What happened to him?" he asks while Zatanna pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"His body must've run out of energy, and then… this happened… *she turns her head to look at him* Bruce, I swear I didn't know this would have happen this quick—"

"You don't want have to explain yourself *he puts his hand on her shoulder* I know you would've stopped this from happening if you knew." He gave her a reassuring smile to which she smiles back before getting back on her feet and moving over to the unconscious people.

"What do we do about them?" She asks while Batman sends a message to Gordon.

"I've sent the commissioner the location of this place; he'll make sure these people get to a hospital, but right now let's make sure they're all right."

She nods at him and the two begin taking the blood draining equipment out of the survivors.

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><p><strong>One hour later, Batcave, 1:56 AM<strong>

"So, what's the deal with the Hulk buster suit?" asks Zatanna while she stares at the large robotic armor positioned near the Batwing, while Bruce stitches his shoulder injury on the operating table near the Bat computer.

"It's a suit I designed to combat super humans that are too dangerous for me to ignore."

"I never figured you'd be spooked by them Bruce what with your **dark vengeance** shtick." She chuckles while crossing her arms as she makes her way to him.

"It didn't concern me with it before, but after what the Parasite did in his fight with Superman, after everything they did to Metropolis? No, I'm not going too get caught off guard; I'll be ready for them."

***Editors Note 2: This was shown in the first arc of DC Prime: Superman!**

He finishes stitching his wound before wiping the sweat off his face before the two of them walk to the Bat-computer. "Does that mean I'm a threat too? I'm super human too y'know."

"Of course not, you're my friend Zee; I know you'll always use your powers responsibly and for the right reasons. It's the likes of Superman, Green Lantern that I don't trust."

She chuckles again, though this time in a half hearted manner. "Thanks for saying that, but let's just say I've had my fare share of screw ups Bruce like tonight for example; we all make mistakes from time to time."

"Yours haven't leveled half a city."

"And hopefully they never do, but Superman was caught in a bad situation and I think he made the best of it. I'm not saying you shouldn't be worrying about the bad supers out there, but trying to generalize them all as threats is just being parano—"

Suddenly the Bat-computer screens disappear, replaced only with a static screen much to their confusion, Bruce tries to see what's wrong though the screen remains completely the same, minutes later Dick enters the cave with Alfred following suit with his phone in hand.

"You're supposed to be sleeping," states Bruce still focused on fixing the computer.

"I was going to in a few when my phone died on me; I went down stairs and saw Alfred trying to fix the static on the kitchen TV."

"What could've caused this sir?" asks the aging butler though Bruce merely sighs before moving his hands away from the keyboard at which moment the screen turns completely black for a split second before it turns back on, this time revealing a curious site.

On the screen is a middle-aged man with black hair, a full beard, wearing alien armor and a symbol resembling the one worn by Superman on his chest though the insignia is different. The man smiles at the camera before stating.

"Greetings people of Earth, my name is Dru-Zod of Krypton, but you may call me… General Zod."

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued next issue with Aquaman as he tries to stabilize the situation between the surface world and Atlantis in the hours leading up to Regin!<strong>


	3. Prelude 3: Aquaman

**REIGN OF KRYPTON #0.3**

"**Calm Before the Storm: Aquaman"**

**Written by Brian Benjamin**

* * *

><p><strong>Editors Note: This issue takes place 10 years before the current DC Prime: Aquaman series<strong>

_**Downtown Atlantis, 3:00am**_

It was another Saturday morning in Atlantis. The club scene like always was at its peak but slowly dying down for the night. Right now we find ourselves with a FEW party goer whose about to stumble upon something scary.

"Man that party was off the reef man. DJ Octo did his thing once again." One of the six members in the group stated.

"I agree with you Side-swipe, the party was barnacles. " A female Atlantean known as Pearl said.

"Whoa, what the heck is that." Another member known as Baron said as he was a sea turtle.

"Let's check it out." A female known as Olive said as the group went over and saw an Atlantean who was passed out.

"Hey are you…oh god!" Pearl screamed as Side-Swipe immediately called 711 which patched them to the C.O.R.A.L department.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Downtown Atlantis 3:30am<strong>_

_I'm usually not disturbed at this hour unless its someone like Black Manta or my brother. So whatever it is must be important. _Arthur told himself thinking of what could need his attention at 3:30am of all times.

"Report." Aquaman called out hoping someone could give him an answer.

"My king, its a tragedy." One officer said bringing Aquaman over to the scene of the crime. Where he saw that Kaldur was talking to the witnesses. Aquaman saw the body of the Atlantean whose body seemed to be covered in a black substance. Also noting that some of their skin seemed to have been burned. Aquaman knew what the cause of this way.

"Oil Dose." Aquaman started off trying to recall the last time he saw a case this severe.

"Yeah, tenth time this week." One of the officers said earning a questionable look from Aquaman.

"Tenth? When was C.O.R.A.L going to bring this to my attention?" Aquaman questioned as OD was a serious issue.

"I...ummmmm….I gotta go." The officer who let it slip stated as he knew he would probably be fired soon.

"It wasn't that we didn't want to tell you. Its just that you do so much already my king. We wanted to at least show you what we can do. I mean this is our job afterall." One of the officers stated.

"I understand that but were a team. It should not matter who gets the job done but so long as we do it." Aquaman said before letting out a sigh. "Officers, take your squad and clean up this mess. I'll be investigating topside to see who or what is causing this issue."

"Very well." Another officer said as Aquaman started swimming away from the scene.

_The only way to get oil is from the surface. So I need to figure out who or what is polluting my waters. The last oil epidemic took a while to clean but at least this time around I have some allies of my own that I can rely on._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Washington D.C<strong>_

_**10:00am**_

"We are live in front of the capitol building where the Clear Waters Foundation is speaking out about their recent oil mishaps. We're hoping to get a word with CEO Williams about the...is that Aquaman." A news anchor stated as Aquaman being followed by Kaldur were coming towards the building.

"Aquaman and Aqualad here!" One of the news reporter shouted as the press was trying to get the king of the sea to talk to them. Aquaman and Kaldur ignored them and continued their way towards the building where the session was in progress.

"Excuse me sir but you cannot...nevermind." One of the security guards said as it was supposed to be a private manner but when you're staring at a person whose saved the world more than you, you back down.

"Thank you." Was Aquaman could say as he and Kaldur were led to the room where the closed session was happening.

"Oh god no, what is Aquaman doing here?" A person who was speaking asked.

"I take it you're Williams of Clear Waters correct?" Aquaman questioned earning a nod from Williams.

"Yes...I just want to say on behalf of the Clear Waters Foundation is that we are terribly sorry for what's happened." Williams started off.

"Do you understand how many people have died because of your companies accident? While you're not accountable for them, I am." Aquaman said cutting him off.

"I can't do this anymore father, it was no accident Aquaman. My fathers been dumping oil into the ocean to gain political favors. I'm sorry Aquaman." A teenager stated earning a gasp from everyone except for Aquaman and Kaldur.

"You stupid-." Williams shouted before finding himself being shocked by what appeared to be an Eel that found itself onto his back.

"My dear brother, what am I supposed to do with you?" A voice all too familiar to Aquaman questioned.

"Ocean Master." Aquaman growled not liking that this situation was now going to end up in a brawl.

"Look I'm going to skip the whole evil speech thing. You already know my intentions by now so there is no reason for me to repeat them." Ocean Master said before clearing his voice. "Attack my men, for Atlantis!"

"Aqualad, try to get these people-." Aquaman said before noticing that the humans in the room were dying by some sort of mist.

"I've whipped up a bit of Fire Water, you know the stuff that burns the insides of humans." Ocean Master said before Aquaman had enough and charged at Ocean Master. Ocean Master was ready for a fight before he noticed his brother seemed to be fighting him with a different tactic.

"What fighting style is this?" Ocean Master questioned never seeing his brother use this sort of fighting method.

"Boxing." Was all Aquaman could say before hitting Ocean Master with a powerful blow to the head which knocked him out. From there Kaldur was able to take out the five henchmen working for Ocean Master.

"I do not recognize these soldiers my king." Kaldur called out as usually people who joined Ocean Masters cause would be former soldiers of the Atlantean army who were against change.

"Call C.O.R.A.L and have them up here at once. It looks as though I'll have to do press not only here but in Atlantis as well." Aquaman stated earning a nod from Kaldur.

"Be careful my king." Kaldur replied knowing how bad the press could be when it came to questioning him.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Atlantis <strong>_

_**10:00pm**_

_**With Aquaman**_

"Another day my husband." Mera said seeing the tired look on his face.

"Indeed, the council they say that I'm too lenient with my policy about the surface dwellers." Aquaman replied as he was hoping that Mera would at least be in his corner.

"While I have no feeling towards them, I will say that you're too nice to them." Mera said earning a sigh from Aquaman.

"So I should throw up a blockade? Ban them from using the oceans for their needs to deliver food, medicine, or things of that nature!" Aquaman screamed as the pressure was finally getting to him.

"Of course not, I just think that for now you need to put up a strong front. Nothing wrong with showing a bit of strength from time to time. That is something the people of Atlantis want to see their king do." Mera said as before Aquaman could reply the television screen started to mess up.

"What in Poseidons name." Mera muttered before the television displayed General Zod on the screen.

"Good Evening world, my name is General Zo." Said the man on the screen.

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued next issue as we turn over to Wonder Woman as she tries to warn her sisters of the incoming threat in the hours leading up to Reign!<strong>


	4. Prelude 4: Wonder Woman

**REIGN OF KRYPTON #0.4**

**"Calm Before the Storm: Wonder Woman"**

**By Brian Benjamin**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Themyscira <strong>_

_**10:15am**_

"Come on Lyla, we're not that far off." Diana stated as the duo was currently on a mission sort to speak.

"Are you sure Diana? I mean it could be anywhere after all." Lyla questioned as the two was currently walking throughout a forest area of Themyscira.

"I assure you Lyla that I have a hunch and they're never wrong." Diana said allowing that confidence she was known for shine through.

"If you say-." Lyla started before a loud roar cut off her as all Diana could do was smirk. "Just go punch that dog already."

"Fine." Diana said before flying towards the three-headed dog that had escaped hell a few hours ago. "Come you beast."

Therefore, the battle between Diana and the Cerberus started. So far, Diana was having a bit of trouble fighting the dog. As she wanted to make sure, she didn't damage her own home too much.

"Maybe I should go and-." Lyla started out before she let out a scream. Lyla started to see something strange. No longer was she watching Diana take on Cerberus but she saw something else. It looked as though someone or something was invading Earth. The person was wearing some sort of black armor with a weird symbol on their chest. Another thing she saw was Ares but in some sort of prison.

"LYLA MOVE!" Diana shouted as Lyla came back to reality. Lyla was hit Cerberus tail of all things. Which for the record really hurt. Cerberus on the other hand growled again, almost as though it was proud of its accomplishment.

"You're done." Diana said in a cold tone where she started to let loose a bit. Allowing herself to really get into the fight. She quickly pulled out her lasso and wrapped it around the three heads. From there she started to whirl the beast in a circle for a few turns until she launched the beast high into the sky. From there Diana roped the beast once and brought it down to the island. Causing a powerful shockwave to happen.

"I'm okay Diana, thanks for asking." Lyla said as while she had the wind knocked out of her, she was alright. Something she thought wasn't supposed to happen.

"Let's head back home." Diana suggested as questions about who Lyla was started to plague her mind.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Amazon Village<strong>_

Coming back home was a quite journey. The two of them enjoying the silence rather than questioning one another. Right now Lyla was heading back home, while Diana needed to have a conversation with her mother.

"Mother, I seek an audience with you." Diana said coming into her mother's bedroom.

"Diana, what is on your mind?" Hippolyta asked as the look on her daughter was that of confusion.

"It's Lyla, I believe that there is more to her than I know." Diana answered.

"Have you not confronted her about your curiosity?" Hippolyta questioned earning a head shake no from Diana.

"I fear her answers may not satisfy me. I feel the need to go to Man's world and seeking a council there." Diana said as she had friends in the Justice League who could help her with this issue.

"Man's world has no need for you Diana. They have champions of their own, those who as powerful as yourself." Hippolyta explained trying to persuade her daughter not to venture out there.

"Thank you for your time mother, I greatly appreciate it." Diana said wanting to get out and fly to her favorite part of the island to clear her head.

"Anytime Diana, I will always be your mother first and foremost." Hippolyta replied back before Diana left the room and flew off.

_Maybe meditation can help me with my troubled thoughts._ Diana said hoping that would put things into perspective for her.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hades<em>**

**_Unknown Time_**

"Would you look at this Sin-Flare." A demon that looked like a Gryffin stated as him and his pal started laughing.

"Oh Lursen, look at how the might have fallen." Sin-Flare said as the duo was currently laughing at the situation Ares was in. The almighty god was nothing more than a prisoner.

"Once I get out, I promise you your deaths will be swift and painless." Ares stated with nothing but a calm tone to his voice.

"Please like I'm going to feat you of all people. Hades is the go to person right now and I don't see you changing that buddy." Lursen said.

"I promise you your deaths will be swift and painless." Sin-Flare mocked before the two started laughing once more.

"Second thought, maybe pain is the way to go." Ares said before feeling a tingling sensation shoot through his body. A feeling he hadn't felt in quite some time, which only meant a war was coming.

"Please like we would be afraid of-." Lursen started off before finding himself and Sin-Flare on their knees due to the power radiating off of Ares. Looking at the cage the duo found it to now be open and Ares walking out of it with a grin on his face.

" Really Hades? A cage based upon my power when you locked me in it. Smart but even you could not predict when war is going to happen you fool. Besides that point I need to find the Titans and Hercules. From there I can reclaim Olympus or take Paradise Island. Either way I win." Ares stated before turning his attention to Sin-Flare and Lursen. "I'm feeling merciful today now that a war is upon us. I'll let you chose who dies first."

"He does!" They both shouted while looking shocked at their friend betraying them.

"Oh how friends betray one another, regardless it's not my problem." Ares said before he vanished from Sin-Flare and Lursen's line of site. Ares reappeared behind the duo as the two felt an emptiness in their torsos. "Pleasure doing business with you boys."

_With Diana_

"By Zeus why can I not shake this feeling?" Diana questioned herself as she felt something terrible was approaching. Looking up in the sky she saw what looked like alien spaceships of some sorts hovering above Paradise Island.

"Greetings Earth, my name is General Zod." A voice coming out of the spaceship stated as that earned the attention of every Amazon on the island.

* * *

><p><strong><em>The story of Diana will continue in the Wonder Woman: Reign tie in series while the invasion itself begins next issue with Reign of Krypton #1! Declaration of War!<em>**


	5. Reign Of Krypton 1: Declaration of War

**REIGN OF KRYPTON #1**

**"Declaration of War!"**

**By Ivan Krolo**

* * *

><p>"How long must I wait, Faora?" asked General Zod while at the landscape of Earth below them via a large window at the tip of the Fortress' command bridge; his eyes examining everything from the beautiful blue sky to the green pastures below thanks to his enhanced vision. His subordinates all walk in and out of the room while others sit at key terminals, keeping track of the Fortress' systems.<p>

"Only a short while longer sir, I assure you." One of his most trusted Lieutenants, Faora, is one of these officers stationed at the terminals, busy cracking into the global network of satellites orbiting the planet so that her leader may introduce himself, and her kin to the people of Earth.

He gives her an affirmative grunt before noticing the approach of another one of his soldiers, Nam-Ek, a true giant standing at over seven feet tall and clad from head to toe in the black Kryptonian armor which only serves to make him fear even more imposing.

"General Zod, sir!" He salutes his commanding officer with the stomp of his boot, even shaking the ground under him.

"What news do you bring from the Phantom Zone?" He asked, not even bothering to turn his head at the soldier who lowers his hand.

"Half of our fleet is already armed, and in the sky. The rest should be joining them in less than half an hour."

"And what of Kal-El?"

"His majesty wishes to deal with him personally, sir. He refuses to leave the Phantom Zone until Kal-El's processing is completed."

"An understandable move, he will no doubt have his work cut out for him given the decades of influence these mongrel humans have had on him. Indoctrinating him to our cause will likely not be an easy task. Then again, his majesty has become quite proficient in the art of… changing people's minds."

"General Zod!" yells Faora from her terminal, causing the aging commander to turn his head in her direction. "We've successfully hacked into their satellites and networking channels; your message will be broadcast to every communication device on the planet."

Smirking at this news, he turns his head in Faora's direction before telling her. "Do it."

As per his order, Faora nods at her commanding officer before initiating the hacking process. Within seconds every phone, radio, television, computer or electronically powered communication device goes on the fritz, static overtaking them before Zod's image and/or voice replaces them.

He places both his hands behind his back and smirks at the camera. "Greetings people of Earth! My name is Dru-Zod of the planet known as Krypton. But you may call me… General Zod."

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile, Batcave….<strong>

"Though you may not know of me or the world which I serve, I believe you are more than familiar with a certain member of my species: the lost son of Krypton known as Kal-El, but on your world he goes by the name of Superman."

Scowling at this, Bruce glances over to Dick who nods at his mentor before the two of them move to one of the armor cases nearby the Bat computer and begin to suit up while Alfred and Zatanna continue watching the broadcast.

"Unfortunately for you, Kal-El is gone, and he can't, and won't save you from what comes next. Some of you won't believe me, many of you probably don't, but I assure you *the screen switches over to show a bloodied, beaten and unconscious Superman being held prisoner inside a prison cell with a pair of armored guardians watching over him* I'm **not** bluffing.

The two return to the Bat computer, fully adorned in their respective Batman & Robin suits. "Alfred, fix the Thrasher, I've got a feeling we'll need it."

"Right away," he walks away to tend to it while Batman looks over to Zatanna. "Still think I was being too paranoid about Superman?"

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile, on the road…<strong>

Green Lantern, accompanied by both Flash and his associate Kid Flash race to the spot where Hal's ring pinpointed the origin of the signal, they're eyes and ears never leaving the broadcast emanating from the ring itself.

"But, the true matter for me interrupting your horribly pointless little mongrels lives is quite simple; from this day until the end of days, this tiny world of yours known as Earth not only belongs to me, but to the Kryptonian Empire as well! I will say this as plainly as possible. Resistance is futile, civilizations superior to yours have all tried and failed to fight us, you don't stand a chance.

"Man, this guy really has the whole melodramatic Shakespearean act down," quips Wally to whom Hal chuckles to though Barry remains stone-faced. "Hey GL, you think this guy can really do what he's saying or what?"

"Nah Kid, I've met Zod's type before" stated GL. "Sure they might give some big boastful speech at their pep rallies but guys like him are all bark and no bite. Trust me; once we get to him, he and his cheerleading squad of an Empire are going down!"

"Hell yeah! We're totally gonna kick these guys asses am I right Uncle Barry?"

"You two need to calm down," he states matter of fact at them. "This guy just showed us he beat down Superman. If we're not careful, he's going to do a **lot** worse to us."

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile, Atlantis…<strong>

"But don't be fooled, I'm not an unreasonable man, though your race disgusts me, with time it may become a useful cog in the machine of the Kryptonian Empire regardless. Therefore, I offer you this, people of Earth; kneel before me and I will ensure the survival of your species."

Arthur and Mera stand in their throne room, along with several members of the Atlantean War Council and nobility who rushed to Arthur's side upon seeing the beginning of the broadcast, all of them in a stir and yelling atop each other while Arthur tries to listen to what Zod has to say.

"And here I thought only a surface Worlder could be so arrogant!"

"We must find this Zod and kill him my king!"

"He must pay for threatening our homeland my liege!"

"**SILENCE!" **his yellow reverberates throughout the entire room, its impact only heightened by the sound of his golden trident striking against the ground of the room, shattering a chunk of it in the process. "I want to hear this in peace; you may continue your squabbling once this is over, and not one second before."

"However." Zod continues. "Not all of you have earned my disdain; the people of Atlantis, for example, will receive a far better deal than the rest of you mongrels."

Gasps of shock and surprise from the crowd upon hearing this, with the nobility's hostility immediately being replaced by rumblings of this alliance's potential. Mera looks over to her husband and notices him clenching his fist in rage with a furious look on his face.

"That bastard… he's trying to turn the surface world even more against us with this!" Arthur thinks to himself.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile, Fortress of Solitude…<strong>

"I imagine most of you are probably sick of listening to me at this point, so I'll do what any good storyteller does and show you what I mean instead of telling it to truly prove my point. Faora, *he turns his head to his left to address her directly* de-cloak our vessel and give the public a better view of the festivities to come."

Moments after the button press, the cloak making the Fortress invisible fades away entirely, revealing its location to the entire world who observes the massive floating structure via cameras from the outside as it hovers in the sky over Washington D.C.

Within minutes, the entire city below is infested with military personnel and tanks to cover the ground with some helping to evacuate the citizens from the combat zone while dozens of jets approaching the Fortress via the sky, all with the entire world watching it live. Zod smirks once more at the sight before turning to Nam-Ek to his right.

"Who is the least experienced soldier among our ranks right now?"

"Private Car-Vex, sir, fresh out of the training grounds. Nothing particularly special but she's a capable enough soldier. Why do you ask?"

"Send her to deal with them."

"A-are you sure, General? Even with the powers this sun gives us it may be too much for her to handle."

Zod turns around and places his hand on his soldiers shoulder to reassure him. "Put those fears to rest old friend, nothing bad will happen. Besides, having a rookie obliterate the finest this land has to offer will only make our more experienced soldiers that much more terrifying."

He nods at the general. "As you wish sir, she will be deployed momentarily."

Moving his hand away from Nam-Ek, he turns his attention back to the window and watches with a satisfied look on his face at the humans below, all barking their orders and preparing their strategies as if the are going to ultimately matter.

Meanwhile, White House…

"Mister President I strongly advise that you move yourself to a more secure location, it's not safe here." States Amanda Waller as she watches the footage outside the Fortress along with the President, and the secretary of defense.

"I agree Mister President. If these aliens have the capabilities of Superman, the amount of collateral damage will most assuredly be too great for us to contain, retreating to the bunker beneath the Whi—"

"No!" Exclaims the President defiantly. "I will not run and hide while this man threatens the entire world, the only way he'll take it is over my cold, dead bod—"

Sounds of explosions cut him off with the three of them turning their attention fully to the television, their eyes widening as they see the carnage unfolding. Their jets fall from the sky, most of the time being ripped in multiple parts, all of which fall at the city below, crashing through buildings, crushing helpless soldiers to death and blowing up their vehicles upon impact.

In the middle of their formation lands Car-Vex, fully adorned in the black Kryptonian armor from head to toe, the soldiers on the ground all form up around her with their vehicles taking aim.

She slowly looks around at them before clenching both of her fists and tearing the soldiers to shreds via a combination of super strength and speed, only appearing as a brief flash on the camera, making it seem as though she's teleporting from spot to spot instead of running.

Most are killed immediately from the sheer power of her blows and the few lucky enough to land a hit only see the sheer uselessness of their weapons before they too are slain by the Kryptonian Private.

The tanks fire at her, now that the surrounding foot soldiers are all killed leaving no risk of friendly fire only to also fail miserably. She effortlessly dodges their slow shells, and just as she did with the troops, zigzags from one to the next either tearing them in half or outright tossing them miles upon miles out of the city.

Attack helicopters, the only remaining shred of resistance open fire on her though she merely stands there, letting their guns unload all their ammo so that they and the whole world can see just how ineffective their weaponry truly is.

Using the solar energy stored in her body, she unleashes a beam of energy out of her eyes and in one fell swoop blows up all the surrounding attack choppers, effectively killing every shred of resistance.

All of the cameras linger on ordeal to give the entire world a perfect view of the destruction caused, men torn in half or pummeled to resemble something not even remotely human looking, tanks shred like paper and helicopters incinerated all while Car-Vex stands there completely unscathed.

The footage then turns to a smiling and clapping Zod who witnessed the whole thing from the safety of his ship while he addresses her and every person on the planet simultaneously. "Bravo Private Car-Vex, I couldn't have done it better myself. Truly you will rise fast through the ranks of our Empire."

The President and almost everyone watching feels their heart sink at the words "Private Car-Vex", the realization that such a low ranking soldier could obliterate some of the finest soldiers, jets, helicopters and tanks humanity has to offer in mere minutes.

His heart pounds so hard he can hear it in his ears, coupled with a sense of nausea in his stomach is enough to make him want to run for his life and not waste a second longer sitting there.

"Now then, Mister President," states Zod. "Now that I've more than made my point abundantly clear to your and all your fellow world leaders, I'm going to leave my flagship and in-front of your White House, if you value your life and the life of your species, you will be there."

Zod's face finally disappears, leaving computers & televisions pitch black and radios & phones with a cold silence of uncertainty. Gulping at the thought of this reaching planetary levels of destructions, the President gets out of his chair and like a machine walks to the door of his office before turning to the Secretary and Waller.

"Thank you both for your years of hard work in service of this country, oh and Amanda, get rid of that project you were working on, if they find out about it, they'll make us pay for it dearly."

She gulps before answering, "Understood, sir."

He smiles and nods at them both before exiting the office.

Outside, Zod flies down with Nam-Ek and Faora both accompanying him, several secret service agents surround them with their guns trained for their heads though they too heard, and saw what transpired a short while ago, all of them shaking uncontrollably at the gods standing before them.

"Let them through," commands the President via his earpiece to the others who reluctantly reply, letting the three Kryptonians enter the small garden before the White House where the President awaits them with a stone cold look on his face, much to Zod's pleasure.

"At least you're showing more composure than your men are," states Zod to which the President smirks at.

"If anyone's got to keep a cool head under pressure its the guy in-charge."

"On that I agree with you, but let's not waste anymore time Mister President. The whole world is watching and what you do next will decide the fate of this world, so I suggest you think this through carefully."

"If my species is on the line, then I don't think there is a choice in the matter. What do you want from me?"

"…Kneel."

The President raises an eyebrow at this. "What?"

"Unless my translator is faulty which I'm certain it's not, you should've heard me just fine, but I'll say it once more anyway; kneel." The clear pleasure he'd been expressing during most of his time on the air vanishes and is replaced by a seething hatred in an instant making the President's heart skip a beat.

Knowing that submitting was better than extinction, he slowly starts to kneel before the three Kryptonians much to their amusement when Zod hears a noise closing in on their location at an incredible speed, comparable to what his own species are capable of.

"Let's see where this is going," He thinks to himself. "You two, dodge now!"

The three Kryptonians jump out of the way just as Barry tries to land a punch at Zod's face though he misses completely, Kid Flash follows suit, stopping just next to the President before waving at the camera.

"Hello world!" Wally exclaims with a smile on his face. "No need to fear, 'cause the good guys are here!"

"That's enough of that Kid!" States Barry, his eyes never moving away from Zod. "Take the President and get him out of here, I'll take care of this guy."

"Got it boss!" He smiles and salutes him before zipping over to the president and carrying him bridal style, though not without some difficult. "No offense Mister Pres, but you really need to lose some weight."

Before the man can respond, Wally does as he's told and zips away from the White House to get the President to a more secure location, Faora tries to step forward to take on Flash though Zod places his hand in-front of her.

"That won't be necessary Faora; I'll take care of him and the Lantern personally."

"How do you kno—"

Without warning Zod appears before Flash with his fist raised much to Barry's shock and barely manages to jump out of its way, landing safely from his fist and watches it destroy an entire section of the ground.

Getting his bearings, Barry runs at Zod and unleashes a barrage of punches at the Kryptonian commanding officer who, using his arms, manages to not only match their speed but block every single one of them, their movements being so fast none of the ordinary people observing the battle can even see them.

Growing tired of this stalemate, Zod seemingly lowers his defense by moving his left arm way from his head prompting Barry to try to land a punch directly at his face only for the General to grab his hand with his own, then proceeding to shatter the speedsters nose with a well-placed head butt.

With the hero temporarily dazed from the attack, Zod channels the solar energy coursing through his body into his fist, releasing Barry's hand just a second before his punch drives into his stomach, sending him flying through the upper part of the White House and into the air.

Almost immediately, though Barry finds himself saved by the timely intervention of Hal who creates a large baseball bat construct to catch Barry in. "What's with you and all this baseball stuff today?" Asks Barry while wiping away the blood from his nose before spotting Zod jumping towards them.

"He's coming!" Barry exclaims while pointing at the General, in response to this Hal forms a large brick wall construct, which Zod tries to punch through only for his arm to get stuck in it prompting Hal to turn the construct so Zod is dangling down before launching it towards the ground.

He smirks thinking he'll crush Zod between the wall and ground only for the General to ram his other hand into the crack and with his new found strength, tears the construct in half, landing safely on the ground.

"Okay, was not expecting that." States Hal when Zod fires a massive blast of heat vision out of his eyes directly at Hal who manages to dodge it though not without the glove construct being destroyed.

Landing on his feet, Barry wastes no time in taking the offensive and runs at Zod seemingly with the same strategy as before, noticing his punch the General puts his arm up to bloke it only for Barry to vibrate through it and land a hit on Zod's face.

Taking advantage of this, Barry immediately follows the attack up with another, then another and soon releases dozens of them, all landing on the Kryptonian's face, even managing to draw blood from his mouth.

Noticing this, Nam-Ek and Faora both move in to aid their leader with the former being closer only for him to be crushed by a giant green anvil construct. It transforms into a large gloved hand, which takes Nam-Ek then proceeds to throw him to the other side of the city with Hal waving at him mockingly while watching him fly away.

"Okay, now that the Incredible Hulk's been taken care of *he looks over to Faora* how's about we tango?" He winks and smiles at her with Faora only replying by shooting daggers at him before charging at him.

Hal quickly forms a large mech-suit construct around his entire body with a Gatling gun in one hand and an oversized sledgehammer in the other. He fires the gun at her though she merely puts her hands before her head and rushes through them though not without her armor receiving some minor damage.

Once she gets close enough, Hal stops firing his gun and swings his hammer at her only for Faora to duck under it, grab the construct mid swing then proceeds to throw him into the air only to be smashed back down by an angry Nam-Ek who, descending from above, hammer fists him a few feet away from Flash.

Hal tries to get back up, but Faora and Nam-Ek immediately land on top of him with their strikes being powerful enough to sink an entire section of the ground and engulfing the landing spot in smoke.

"LantAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH" He yells in pain after Zod fires a heat vision beam through his shoulder after the speedster shortly let his guard down, the Kryptonian smirks and follows it up with a knife-hand strike to Barry's throat, knocking the wind out of him before placing several quick pressure jabs around his kidney's, heart and lungs.

His whole body goes into shock from these two blasts as if a torrent of electricity is being run through it before helplessly falling on his back, his arms and legs twitching as he desperately tries to make them move but to no avail.

"Don't bother trying to move, your whole body is utterly paralyzed from my pressure point blows, you *another crashing noise is heard from the crater where Hal and the two Kryptonian's landed in* and that imbecile are finished."

Nam-Ek and Faora walk out of the crater with an unconscious Hal in the hands of the former before being tossed next to Barry like a sack of trash, the three Kryptonians all stand before them with their eyes glowing red and smirks on their faces.

"Let this moment serve as an example to all who dare defy us!" Exclaims Zod to the cameras & radios still relaying everything to the world before the three fire their blasts at the helpless heroes lying before them, however before the blasts can reach them, Wally manages to zip back in time and snatches the two adults out of harms way.

"Sorry for taking so long boss, you wouldn't believe how much of a maze this freakin' town is."

"These humans truly are annoying." States Faora in disgust while Zod merely scowls at the teen before activating his communication device, "Is the fleet ready to begin?"

"Excellent, then you may begin the incursion."

"Yes sir!"

Ending communication with the commanding officer back in the Phantom Zone, Zod places both his hands behind his back while Wally and Barry both raise their eyebrows in confusion at the three do nothing but merely stand there.

"Uhh, what are they doing?" Whispers Wally to his mentor who merely grunts back when thunder is heard in the sky above them though there's not a cloud in sight. People from all around the world can hear the same happening repeatedly when portals suddenly form in the sky above every major city on the planet followed by large, Fortress like ships emerging from them with smaller, fighter jet ones accompanying them.

Back at Washington the same happens with another large flagship appearing directly above the White House with soldiers immediately landing near Zod, surrounding Wally and the two injured adults he holds over his shoulders.

He looks around them all, desperately trying to find a way to escape while Zod merely smiles at the teen before stating. "Ah, there it is, the look of a man who's finally realized just how foolish it is to fight the Kryptonian Empire, truly a thing of beauty."

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued…<strong>


	6. Reign: Rogues Part 1

**Reign of Krypton: The Rogues**

**Issue 1 of 3**

**Written by Bodhi Ouellette**

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><p><strong>Editors Note: This issue takes place after "Reign of Krypton" #0.1, so to know what happened here go and read that first prelude issue.<strong>

**Central City:**

A large Police Truck is traveling out of the downtown residents of Central City and into the forest heading to the path where the Central City Prison is based. Inside of the truck, are the Rogues; enemies of the Flash and his sidekick Kid Flash, and utter _jokes _among the citizens of Central City_._

The members; Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Trickster, Captain Boomerang and Heatwave are all handcuffed together, with most of their gear stripped away from them, leaving them powerless of any way to escape. Captain Cold is look down at their laps defeated; Trickster is taking a nap, and Boomerang slouches down, peeved off from their early encounter. "What a load of **bullocks,"** murmured Captain Boomerang.

"I know, right?!" complained Heatwave. "We were doing so well, even against Flash and his annoying sidekick with him, and then the freaking **Green Lantern **had to come in and ruin it."

"How were we even suppose to defend ourselves from a Green Lantern?" questioned Captain Boomerang. "Not like we've ever faced one before. But, I'll admit, I would prefer him showing up than **Superman."**

"Doesn't matter," coldly replied Mirror Master. "All we'll do is escape again and continue robbing banks, and be more prepared the next time."

"There won't **be **a next time for you, kiddos," said one of the Police Guards speaking through the little small hole on the side of the cell, where he and another guard is driving the car. "You five are all going to be placed in special cells, isolated from the other prisoners. "You're not going **anywhere.**"

"Ya keep up that trap of yours and I'll rip ya goddamn throat out, ya hear me?" threatened Captain Boomerang.

"Whatever. You punks don't scare me. Everyone in the prison- hell, the whole damn **city **thinks you're a joke. Laughing stocks. They all think you look ridiculous in those outfits, too."

"Hey! I paid good money to make this costume!" yelled Captain Boomerang.

"Sure you did. Come back to me when you've managed to **successfully **rob a bank- oh wait! You won't be able to."

"You're a real asshole, ya know that?"

"And you're a criminal who dresses in a stupid blue and white costume who hangs out with other stupidly dressed criminals too."

"**Why you little-**"

"Enough, Boomerang," ordered Mirror Master. Captain Boomerang backed off, and he went back to slouching in his seat. Heatwave looks over at Captain Cold, still looking down at their laps.

"You ok, Cold?" asked Heatwave. "You've been quiet all through this drive."

"Just thinking, that's all," said Captain Cold.

"About what? How we keep sucking ass at robbing banks and kicking them Flashes Asses?" said Captain Boomerang.

"That too, but… what if we're not cut out to be villains?"

That sentence brought all of the Rogues members' attention over to Captain Cold. "You didn't just say what I think you said," said Mirror Master.

"Hear me out, guys; We formed the Rogues so we could beat the Flash together as one team, after being beaten by him countless times over before. But after that one battle where we won, what else have we **really **accomplished since we've formed? All we've done is rob banks, jewelry stores and museums to get a huge sum of money- for our own reasons no less."

"You're point?" commented Boomerang.

"My **point is**; we've done jack shit since we've formed. We haven't accomplished anything worthwhile. We can't even rob a stupid **bank **without getting our asses kicked by Flash, and everyone thinks we're the **laughing stock **of this town. I say we take a new direction for the team, at least for a little while, see how it goes. Let's be heroes for a bit. I'm sure if this goes well; we won't be seen as jokes and be more respected. Sound like a good idea guys? Guys…?"

They all think of it for a moment, as they considered the suggestion Cold gave them. Then, Mirror Master began to speak. "I think it can work," he said. "You've given good points to our successes and failures, which right now our failures are outweighing everything else. Why not try it out?"

"Well **I **for one hate this idea," expressed Captain Boomerang. "Why not just practice at being better at what we do then change our whole motive for forming this team; killing the Flash?"

"Yeah, I agree with Boomy here," said Heatwave. "I **loathe **the Flash and his little brat sidekick, and to think about having to work beside him someday makes me sick to my stomach. Plus, people get pissy when I try to burn down their property."

"That's because you're an obsessive pyromaniac, and is a psychological problem you suffer," replied Mirror Master.

"Still, my obsession with burning things would only get in the way of being a hero."

"Well, looks like we have a tie at the moment," stated Mirror Master. "We're gonna need to break this tie with Trickster." Mirror Master turns over to Trickster, who's still taking a nap. "Yo! Trickster!" he yelled. No response. "Slap him, Cold."

Cold leans forward and smacks Trickster right across the face. This wakes the Trickster up. "W-what… What?!" said the Trickster. "What happened?"

"Trick, buddy," said Mirror Master. "Cold thinks because we suck so much at being villains, we should all be heroes for a while, see how that works out. Cold and I agree to it, these two imbeciles don't. We need you to break the tie. What do you say?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah. Ok." Trickster went back to sleep.

"Trickster!" yelled back Mirror Master.

"Look, can you leave me alone for a bit? I'm trying to take a nap here."

"Just answer with a simple yes or no, ok?"

"Fine. What was the question again?"

"Oh for fu-" started Captain Boomerang, until they all felt the force of the Police Truck abruptly turn a sharp left. Not only that, but they could hear the sounds of large explosions happening outside. As the truck streaked it's tires across the road, attempting to make a hastily break, they could feel the truck lift up into the air. The truck spun around, and they were all lifted off of their seats, helpless of the incoming impact that the truck would make. And then…

_**CRASH!**_

The whole truck was now on it's side. The tires were popped and the front engines were smoking. Over in the back, the doors broke open from the impact. Captain Cold kicked open the doors, and he and the rest of the Rogues members rally out of the truck. When they look around, they find the road behind them, and in front of them, completely wrecked; large potholes and even rising ground, which was how the truck ended up being sent into the air. "Heatwave, go over to the front and grab the keys from the guards," commanded Cold.

Heatwave walked over to the windows where the two guards were to find both of them bleeding, eyes wide opened. Both of them were killed in the crash. "Damn," he muttered out. He stuck his arm in and grabbed the ring of keys off of the guard's belt. Heatwave then tossed the keys over to Cold, who jumped up on the truck and inserted the key into the small compartment that held all of their gear inside. Cold threw to them all of their weapons and gear, and then he jumped back down onto the tar road.

"What the hell was **that **all about?" questioned Captain Cold.

"Don't know, don't really care," said Captain Boomerang. "We got out, that's all that matters, right?"

"It almost looks like we were targeted, trying to kill us," theorized Mirror Master. "**Or **whoever did this wanted us to escape."

"Well how very kind of them to do that," joked Boomerang. "Now are we gonna ditch this place before someone finds out they haven't dropped us off at prison…" Boomerang noticed that none of them were no longer paying attention to him. "Hey! Did any of you listen to me?!"

"Shut up, Boomy and look up at the sky," said Heatwave. Captain Boomerang turned around and looked up to witness a large space like warship hovering above them, passing by, and heading to Central City.

"Was that a freaking alien ship just flying above us?!" squealed Trickster.

"Yep," responded Captain Cold.

"And from the looks of it, it's heading directly to Central City," said Mirror Master.

"Yep. We've got to go back."

"What?! Why?!" said Captain Boomerang.

"Whatever that… **thing **is, it doesn't look friendly," said Captain Cold. "Besides, Trickster technically said yes for us being heroes for a while."

"I did?" questioned Trickster. "I guess I did."

"So, we might as well go back and at least see what in the ever lasting **shit **that ship was. We've also got family members there too, and they might be in danger.

"I don't," mentioned Captain Boomerang.

"Well I do. Mirror Master, does the mirror on that truck still in tact?"

Mirror Master walked up to the rear mirror on the side of the truck, to find that the mirror was undamaged. "It's fine," he responded.

"Good. Send us through."

"Will do. Everyone grab onto me."

"Ew," said Trickster.

"Not in **that **way, you sicko." They all grabbed onto Mirror Master, as he pointed his mirror gun right at the small mirror on the truck. He shoots it, and they all turn into a bright light that transports them into the mirror.

* * *

><p>Central City; Mirror Shop:<p>

Their exit point was out of a large mirror hanging up against the wall of a Mirror Shop in the city. They've all noticed that all of the customers have huddled over at the front of the shop, looking outside at the sky. The Rogues approached the crowd of people. "Excuse us, you don't think you can let us outside, perhaps," kindly asked Mirror Master. They all looked back with terrified faces, now even more terrified by the presence of the Rogues.

"S-sure man, just don't hurt us," stated one of the customers. The customers moved out of the way of the door and The Rogues all left the shop and looked back up at the sky, where the large ship quickly approaches Central City. Amongst them were other citizens of the city, also looking up gazing at the ship.

"Well, this seems to be like a situation we can handle," babbled Captain Boomerang.

The ship was already sending in fleets of even smaller ships that approached the city. This was bigger than they had hoped, than anyone had hoped. This was an invasion.

The Kryptonians have reached Central City…

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><p><strong>To be continued in Issue two of Reign of Krypton: The Rogues #2! To read the main story, go read Reign of Krypton #1!<strong>


	7. Reign Of Krypton 2: Day One

**REIGN OF KRYPTON #2**

**"Day One"**

**By Ivan Krolo**

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><p><strong>Washington DC<strong>

"So then boy, what will you do now?" Asks Zod with a smirk on his while his men surround Kid Flash, their rifles and eyes trained on him and the unconscious heroes on his back. The teen speedster looks around desperately trying to find a crack through their formation, his desperation growing with each passing moment.

"That's what I'm wondering." Mutters Wally with his eyes darting back and forth to find an escape route to exploit though their defense seems impenetrable to him. However, a new opportunity presents itself when he feels the molecules of his body vibrate.

"Barry! He must've recovered enough to vibrate the three of us!" The nervous look on his face immediately disappears with a confident smile and determination in his eyes to Zod's surprise. "What is he thinking-"

Without warning Kid Flash runs directly towards the general, the newfound smirk never leaving his lips while he does it. Zod instinctively clenches his fist and aims it directly at his face to no avail as Barry starts vibrating his molecules in turn enabling himself, Wally and Hal to phase directly through Zod. As they do so, the Generals eyes widen in shock as every fiber of his being feels like it's getting ripped apart from the phasing process.

Immediately after they get through him, he falls to his knees coughing up a lung in the process while Faora yells. "GO AFTER THEM YOU FOOLS! DO **NOT** LET THEM ESCAPE!"

The soldiers do as commanded and immediately give chase to the three of them, however, even with their newfound powers their speed simply pales in comparison to KFs. An advantage given to him by his paralyzed mentors Speed Force energy. The open fire on him with their Kryptonite powered rifles and heat vision though Barry helps him phase through the attacks.

After a few more seconds, Wally breaks the sound barrier with his increasing speed, Wally rushes out of the city towards the North of the country while the Kryptonian's following him desperately try to keep up. Meanwhile, Faora and Nam-Ek both help Zod back up with him angrily smacking their hands away.

"I underestimated those humans, a mistake I nor anyone else will make." He mutters before turning over to Nam-Ek. "Take a pair of ships and go after them, the Lantern **cannot** be allowed to message the Guardians of our presence, not yet Am I understood?"

"It will be done General." He says while Zod turns to face Faora. "According to our information this city has a military base of operations known as the Pentagon. You and Black Zero are to raid this facility and secure anything of importance inside."

"And if we encounter any resistance?"

"Minimize the casualties and damages to the structure. Losing anything or anyone of value could pose an issue for us and this little debacle is to be the first, last and only one our rule will face on this planet."

* * *

><p><strong>Arabian Desert <strong>

"Only now do I truly realize the full extent of the General's cruelty." Claims Commander Bar-Nes with a hint of anger in his voice as his ship and squadron approaches the Middle Eastern nation of Kahndaq. He sits just next to the ship doors with his arms crossed and frown on his face while they are both by contrast, smiling and arming themselves for the "battle" to come.

Bar-Nes' right-hand-man, and oldest friend, Cyr-Us sneers at his statement before adding. "So that's what's bothering you. I was sure it was your balding issue making you cranky today."

"Still trying to be the funny guy I see." He sneers back at him though Cyr-Us ignores it before adding. "I don't see why you're complaining. We're free at last from the Phantom Zone after 25 years! Now we can begin a whole new glorious conquest of the galaxy!"

"Glorious conquest? Ha! That's the first funny thing you've said since I've met you." He scoffs at his comment. "Kahndaq and this entire planet are barely any stronger than a Kryptonian war hound. Zod has already taken the few challenges there were for himself, all the rest of us have now is scraps."

A loud click noise goes off Alena's sniper rifle as she puts in her Kryptonite rounds inside of it. "Now I remember how insufferable you two are on missions. It's almost enough to make me go back into the damned Phantom Zone." She angrily mutters at the two of them while checking the scope of her weapon.

"I would've thought you'd be the most bitter of us all Alena given the mostly poor sport this world has." Inquires Bar-Nes.

"Don't be so quick to cross of humanity as entirely weak Commander. I've done some research into their history and in many ways they can, and often are quite similar to us. I would even go so far as to say they'd be our equals had their technological advancement reached our own." She counters honestly before saying. "I have a feeling this species has quite a few surprise in store for us, and I for one relish the opportunity to face them."

At that moment thunder is heard roaring all around them, causing the vessel to start shaking uncontrollably.

"Kan!" Yells Bar-Nes via his communicator to contact the piloting A.I. "What's the meaning of this turbulent-"

A massive bolt of lightning hits the front of the ship, causing both an explosion and a shockwave throughout the ship. Alena and Cyr-Us are both knocked off their feet as their vessel spins uncontrollably in the air before crashing into a large mountain of sand.

"Is everyone alright?" Asks Bar-Nes while uncoupling himself from the seat, Cyr-Us and Alena both moan as they get back on their feet and walk over to their commanding officer.

"We're fine but what in the name of Rao was that?" Questions Cyr-Us at his commanding officer who attempts to contact the rest of the army with static being his only reply.

"Damn storm must be the cause of all this." Speculates Bar-Nes before rubbing his chin. "Then again... I don't hear anything outside anymore."

"Neither do I." Interjects Alena. "Still, we have a mission to complete, I suggest we waste no more time in getting it done."

The two nod in agreement with Cyr-Us kicking the hatch of the ship into the air and climbing out of it with the others right behind him. They stand on the sandy mountain with the moon illuminating the entire ground below. Alena, using her sniper scope, surveys the surrounding area and quickly catches a glimpse of Shiruta's distant lights towards the East.

"I can see our target. We should be able to arrive there soon-"

"Hello there!" Shouts an elderly voice from behind them, prompting the three to turn around and face the person responsible. They notice the older man, clad in a black cloak and a walking stick walking slowly towards them with a smile present on his half-concealed face.

"State your business here old man!" Demands Bar-Nes while the older man in-front of him merely chuckles.

"No need to for that tone son, I'm just an old and weary traveler minding my own business. I noticed your ship falling out of the sky from that terrible storm, are you alright?"

"That's of no concern to you Earthling. Now leave us so that we may continue our mission, we've no more time to waste." He coldly tells the old man before though the old man merely chuckles at him again.

"Helping an old man is a distraction now?" He slightly raises his head revealing small, blue colored streams of lightning coming out of them much to their surprise. "I would say we treated our elders with more respect back then, but id be lying."

He scowls at the old man before turning to Alena. "Kill this damn pest!"

Taking aim with her sniper rifle, Alena aims it at his head and fires a small, green burst of Kryptonite energy at her target. The old man continues smiling at it, not bothering to move and only whispers something before lightning engulfs him completely.

* * *

><p><strong>Gotham City<strong>

"Are you sure you want to do this Jim?" Queries Batman while observing Dick, in his Robin suit, helps Barbara pack her things from her room down the hall while her father sits at the dinner table with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Even if this location is as safe as my contact tell me it is, there's no guarantee that things won't go wrong."

"Do you know how my wife died?" He counters with a somber tone to his voice, noticing Batman's hesitation he merely chuckles before continuing. "Of course you do, you probably did your fair share of research before contacting me I imagine. But I think we both know that my Wifes breaks giving out wasn't an accident. The mob and Loeb knew I couldn't be bought off or even outright killed, so they hurt my family to keep me in line."

He takes a sip of his coffee. "It worked too. I kept my mouth shut and did my best to stay out of their crosshairs, even thought I hated myself for doing it every single day. Then you came to Gotham and changed everything. For the first time in years, I stopped being afraid and felt like I could make a difference again."

"Jim, if you try to stand in their way, they'll kill you for sure."

He gives his partner a determined look. "Maybe so. But I can't go back to living like I did after my wife died, I can't just sit on the sidelines and let these alien bastards walk all over me and the people of this city. With you going to who knows where and doing God knows what to stop Zod, Gotham **needs** me now more than ever. I might not be able to fight these guys... but I can sure as hell send them a message of my own."

Sighing in a mix of frustration and desperation, Batman looks over to Barbara and Dick as they finish packing. "If anything happens, I'll take care of her." He looks Jim directly in the eye. "You have my word."

"I know you will." He walks over to Batman extending his hand towards him smiling. "And I'm grateful for that, along with everything else you've done." Batman shakes his partner's hand and even lets himself smile back at him before noticing Barbara and Dick walk up to them from her room.

"I'm ready." She hesitantly tells them while her father kneels in-front of her.

"I know you don't want to do this Barbara, but... things are bad out there honey, if something happened to you... "

"Let's not go there dad." She interjects with a smile. "Just please, promise me you won't do anything reckless."

"Heh, I'll do my best kiddo."

The two hug as a final goodbye when flashing purple light appears behind them followed by the words "tropeleT" followed by Zatanna appearing at that spot with a smile on her face.

"I assume you've found who you were looking for?" Questions Batman with Zatanna nodding in agreement. "It was pretty easy when his magic signature lit up like a Christmas Tree in the Arabian Desert."

"What about that dimension? Can we use it as a base of operations?"

"He had to twist the owners arm a little to make it happen but yes, the Rock is completely at our disposal."

"And where's the Captain now?"

"He's..."

* * *

><p>"... out hunting."<p>

**Canadian Border**

Wally collapses onto the rocky ground of the cave, his heart pounding so hard it feels like it might explode at any moment. Barry, now able to walk stands at the entrance of it, watching to see if their pursuers are still out there searching for them in the forest surrounding their hiding spot. Next to Wally lies an unconscious Hal Jordan, still out cold from the joint attack of Nam-Ek and Faora.

"Boss... you think... they're still... out there?" Inquires Wally between pants while Barry keeps observing the forest. "Probably, I don't think these guys are gonna stop until all of us are dead."

"At this rate... they might just... pull it off... cause I'm... running on fumes here-"

Suddenly the ground starts shaking followed by a humming noise from the outside. Recognizing it from before, Barry immediately turns around and scoops up the two off the ground, making his way to-phase through wall just as the Kryptonian ship appears in-front of the cave. The vessel fires its Kryptonite rounds, tearing it to pieces as Barry only narrowly manages to reach the other side of the small mountain.

Their escape was anticipated as a squad ambushes the three of them at the clearing. 4 of the soldiers come at him with their fists and knives at close quarters, the rest fire at the speedster from atop the trees with their sniper rounds though he manages to zig zag around their attacks. Noticing a viable pathway to-escape with, Barry makes a run for it only to be smashed by a tree swung at him by Nam-Ek.

They are sent flying several feet in the air before landing face first in the dirt ridden ground of the clearing. The Kryptonian's all circling them like vultures waiting for their prey to croak. Barry tries to get back on his feet when a sniper shoots a heat vision blast through both his arms, knocking him back down yelping in pain.

Nam-Ek takes his knife out of his scabbard on his shoulder and chuckles as he grabs Barry by the head and raises the blade over his head for a swing. "Your head will make a fine trophy for the General!"

Before he can swing the blade, a storm of lightning rains down from the heavens, attacking every single Kryptonian in the area. Despite their armor and newly acquired durability, most collapse on the ground quickly while Nam-Ek and 3 others manage to remain standing despite the pain. He stumbles away from Barry and tries to contact the ship for backup to no avail as static is his only reply.

"Damn... it all..." He angrily mutters when his super hearing catches a whizzing noise all around, lifting his head up he watches his remaining soldiers being taken away screaming by something flying at super fast speeds. In a matter of seconds, Nam-Ek is the only one left conscious though still to hurt to get back up. Then he notices a man, nearly two feet tall picking up Wally, Hall and Barry off the ground.

His physique is that of a man in his prime. He wears a red suit covering most of his body minus his neck, head and hands with a golden pair of both wristbands and boots, a golden belt and large lightning symbol with energy coursing through it. His face remains half hidden by a white cloak running down to the upper portion of his boots. The man places the three over his shoulders and walks to the center of the clearing where he shouts "Shazam!" causing a lightning bolt to come crashing down on him and teleporting him away from the area.

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><p><strong>To be continued...<strong>


	8. Reign: Rogues Part 2

**Reign of Krypton: The Rogues**

**Issue 2 of 3**

**Written by Bodhi Ouellette**

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><p><strong>Previously: The Rogues, having been caught in an embarrassing battle between Flash, Kid Flash and Green Lantern, were taken in and being transported back to prison. However, a Kryptonian ship attacked the truck, allowing the Rogues to break out and return into the city to find out what that ship is going to do. Little do they know, they were now being caught in the invasion of the Kryptonians. <strong>

**Central City:**

Kryptonian Warships descend onto the pavements of the roads or up above on rooftop buildings. Kryptonian Soldiers disembarked out from the ships, wearing dark grey extravagantly detailed armor, and wielding large equally outlandishly designed weapons. The soldiers started to raid through homes and stores below, rounding innocent bystanders and families out into the streets. Other Kryptonian soldiers, such as Enforcers- taller figures with lots of armor and muscle can be seen falling from the sky, and smashing right onto the ground, denting the pavement, or on the front ends of cars, ripping off hoods of vehicles and pulling out helpless bystanders that way.

Nearby the Rogues, an Enforcer and two regular Kryptonian Soldiers had cornered a family into a wall. The father, trying to protect his family, made an attempt to defy an Enforcer from taking them. The Enforcer replied by quickly gripping the father's head and crushing it effortlessly. His family screamed, terrified of the might these Kryptonians have, made even worse when the Kryptonians aimed their weapons at the family and fired at them. The three dropped onto the pavement, gushing out blood from bullet wounds; dead. The Rogues watched the chaos endure in the city, feeling helpless and unsure of what to do.

"Blimey," whispered Captain Boomerang. "That's a lot of baddies."

"I know," replied Heatwave. "Did you **see **what they just did to that family?"

"This does look to be a near impossible task we can perform for just five non powered crooks," stated Mirror Master.

"My god, why did we even bother listening to ya, Lenny?" asked Captain Boomerang. "If we had known that these bastards were this brutal, I wouldn't said 'Run for the hills, everyone! We're all gonna die.'"

"I stand by my point, Boomy," retorted Cold. "We're definitely helping these people out now."

"F&^% 'em! They have two Flashes that'll protect these pansies! I say we get the **hell **outta here."

"Boomy's got a point, Cold," said Heatwave. "What good are we against them?"

"Enough."

A couple of police cars and military vehicles pulled out, blocking a whole street. Police officers and military soldiers exit out of their vehicles and got into position to aim their pistols and semi automatic rifles at a group of Kryptonian soldiers, including two Enforcers. You could not see the Kryptonians faces, but what these officers and soldiers thought of what they must've been feeling most likely was that of a face of pitifulness. They stood no chance at all. But they needed to do their duties.

"Put your hands up in the air right now, or we will shoot!" one of the Officers ordered.

The Kryptonians made no effort to give in to their demands, as they immediately started firing at the small squad of reinforcements. They retaliated back, firing endless amounts of bullets, but not one bullet even made a dent in the Kryptonians armor. When the ceasefire ended, the Enforcers charged at the squad like furious rhinoceros, however, the Enforcers stopped in their tracks, unable to move their legs. They both looked down to see their legs were frozen, stuck to the ground. The cops, soldiers and Kryptonians looked over to find the Rogues have arrived, and were ready for a fight. The cops, however, were quite confused by their appearances.

"The Rogues?" questioned one of the cops. "You're **helping **us?"

"That's right," spoke Trickster.

"... Wait a minute, how the hell did you guys escape from the truck?!" screamed back the officer.

"Blew up," answered Heatwave. "These bozos took it out."

The normal Kryptonian soldiers engaged the Rogues by blasting them with their rifles, but they were thwarted by fire blasts conceived by Heatwave, though it did not harm them, it forced Kryptonians to drop their guns, followed by Cold freezing them to the ground to prevent them from getting back up, though this would not hold them for long. Mirror Master looked back at the officers. "Where's Flash?" asked Mirror Master. "Shouldn't he be here defending this city?"

"He's in D.C.," answered one of the officers. "He tried to stop these guys from killing the President. He's safe, but man did they give him, GL and KF a beating."

"**Ha!** What a bunch of **bitches!**" cried out Captain Boomerang in gleefully. "Serves them right! Bloody **wankers** deserved a good beating."

"Yeah, ok, you go ahead and continue on with your speech, meanwhile there are a bunch of alien scumbags committing mass genocide across the city, and probably the entire planet," rambled Captain Cold.

"Does this mean you'll be helping us?" asked the Cop.

"I... guess we are..." said Heatwave. "And I don't think you're going to deny our assistance, are you?"

"Nope," the cop replied back. "Right now, I think we have a better chance of beating these guys with your help then with all of us alone."

"So... if we help you guys beat these aliens up, does that mean we won't have to go back to jail?" asked Trickster curiously.

"Not in a million years," the Cop answered.

"Oh, well in that case, I guess we don't have to help you now," stated Trickster.

"Wait! Maybe we can figure something out."

"That's what I thought."

The Enforcers finally broke their legs through the ice, as they turned over and immediately started charging at the Rogues members. Trickster and Captain Boomerang were the quickest to respond; Trickster pulled out a few sharpened tacks out of his satchel and threw them right at the Enforcer's exposed head, killing him instantly. Captain Boomerang flung his sharp boomerang weapon right into the neck of the other Enforcer. The Enforcer grasps his throat, as he slowly begins to choke on his own blood, until he falls over dead. The Rogues looked back at the cops and soldiers. "So, what now?" asked Captain Cold.

"Help around in the city," answered a Military Official. "You guys seem capable enough to help out with saving citizens in pearl. Least you can do. We can keep these other Kryptonians at bay with their weapons."

"Understood," said Captain Cold. He turned back to face the other Rogues members. "Let's split up," suggested Cold. "Heatwave, you and I will take downtown, the three of you take the rest of the city. **Let's go!"**

* * *

><p><strong>Downtown:<strong>

Many Kryptonian soldiers and Enforcers are rounding up Central City citizens, and escorting them on the streets, assembled in straight lines, and defenseless. Their destination; concentration camps set up inside of the city, where the weak humans will be placed and watched over in. A horrible fate for any being to endure. But they're forceful escort was cut short.

Standing on a roof above the streets was Captain Cold and Heatwave, who both blasted the Kryptonian soldiers with their blasters spewing out ice and fire. Though they didn't stay down for long, this allowed many of the citizens to pick up their weapons and point them at the downed Kryptonian forces. The Enforcers were however, a bit trickier to take out. Luckily, Cold created an entire block of ice that flung down right into two Enforcers, smashing them into a building. The citizens looked up to see Cold and Heatwave.

"Grab their weapons!" yelled Cold. "Blast them to a crisp! These punks are gonna show what a bunch of humans can **really **do!"

The citizens roared with thunderous cries at Cold's speech. Cold looked back at Heatwave with a smile. "Look at that, Mick. They're **cheering **at us. How does that feel?"

"Gotta say, it feels good to be treated like a hero," admitted Heatwave. "Now, let's keep that streak up."

Upstate:

More cops and military soldiers defend against the forces of the Kryptonians, with little success; their bullets make no dents in their armor. The Kryptonians retaliated by using their laser weapons to blast the cops and soldiers away. As the Kryptonians continued to advance on, Captain Boomerang, Trickster, and Mirror Master materialized out from a nearby car mirror, and gave them a surprise attack. Trickster threw a jukebox that was actually loaded with a bomb that exploded, knocking back the Kryptonians down.

Captain Boomerang used this time to throw his boomerangs at the downed Kryptonians, all of them stab through their necks, cutting off their air supply and slowly killing them. One Kryptonian however was still alive. The Kryptonian removed her helmet, and her eyes glowed red. A strong blast of laser eyes shot out at the Rogues, however, Mirror Master created his own mirror construct, in which the blast went into the construct. The Kryptonian was confused for a moment, until the blast projected out from a nearby mirror and hit her right in the face, defeated by her own attack. A few pedestrians behind a damaged car looked up to see the Rogues, much to their surprise.

"The Rogues?" said one of the pedestrians. "What the hell are **you** guys doing?"

"Saving your lives, what else?" said Mirror Master.

"Really? Y-You're not gonna **rob** us or anything?"

"No. We're trying to save ya dumbasses," said Captain Boomerang.

"Whatever. Thanks for saving us, though. You kicked those Kryptonians real good."

"Yeah, thanks. Man, being a hero actually kinda feels good," stated Mirror Master.

"I'm still a bit iffy on the whole thing, but hey, it beats being in prison," replied Captain Boomerang.

"Maybe people will finally respect me, forgetting about my silly costume," spoke Trickster.

"Nah, ya look ridiculous," chimed Captain Boomerang. "Get a better costume. Like, now…"

* * *

><p><strong>Underground Bunker Station; Hours Later:<strong>

Originally a Nuclear Fallout bunker, it was built in case of a nuclear war back during the Cold War. Once the Cold War officially ended, the bunker ended up turning into a storage center. When the Kryptonians invaded, it was hastily set up to become a refuge location for the citizens of Central City, where those freed by The Rogues would be relocated to.

The location was large and was made with nothing but dull grey stone that enclosed the bunker, with lights dangling above the ceiling. No windows either. There are vents up above on the ceiling as well, designed to filter out any nuclear substances that may be in the air. People are cluttered within the enclosed space, struggling to make room for more and more refuges to arrive. Police officers, Firefighters, Nurses, Doctors and Military Soldiers assist the people by supplying them with food, blankets, or alleviating injuries. It was manageable. For now.

Present inside of the Bunker, helping to care for some of the people was Heatwave and Trickster. Heatwave's job was to provide heat by lighting fires inside of lanterns. Trickster's job was entertainment. His ridiculous antics entertained the kids and adults alike. Even though Trickster was making himself look like an utter fool, he didn't mind. People loved him. Soon, the rest of the Rogues entered into the bunker, with a few dozen more citizens brought in. Cops and Firefighters approached the citizens and began to redirect them to free spaces to relax.

"Well, we've managed to get around half of the city's citizens freed and in these bunkers," stated Captain Cold, "But we've still got a lot to do. So, whose ready for another round?"

"Ah, hell no," cried Captain Boomerang. "Give us a little break, Snark. Don't let this act of **heroism **get into your head."

"Can't take any breaks, Boomy. I've found out their strategy. I know what their weaknesses are, so we can easily continue to beat them off."

"Defeating these aliens head-on isn't going to solve the massive problem which this whole city faces, Cold," said Mirror Master. "We need to come up with a plan to end this once and for all."

"Hm... Maybe you're right," pondered Cold. "We need to find a way to take that big ship in the sky out... and I think I might have a plan."

* * *

><p><strong>To be concluded in Reign of Krypton: The Rogues Issue 3! To continue on with the full story, read Reign of Krypton, along with it's other tie-ins!<strong>


	9. Reign: Superman Part 1

**Reign of Krypton: Superman Part 1**

**Written by James Brady**

**Plotted by James Brady & Joey West**

* * *

><p><strong>The Phantom Zone<strong>

A young woman about early 30s holds a baby in her arms quietly lulling it back to sleep as high above them the veins of reality slowly lurch and churn in the eternal night sky of the Phantom Zone. She soon realizes the baby has gone back to sleep. She treads quietly through the desert sands back towards the house a small rudimentary building but still with impressive Kryptonian architecture.

The build's wall peels away to let her inside. She walks through the kitchen area and gets into the elevation chamber where she quickly arrives upstairs. She tiptoes through her and her husband's bedroom quietly being sure not to awaken him and gently rests the baby in his crib. She watches for a few minutes as the baby sleeps carelessly and calmly, knowing she'll be awoken in the morning by shrieks and cries but for now, it's peaceful. She climbs back into bed being careful not to risk waking her husband when he slowly rolls over and puts his arm around her.

She walks through the kitchen area and gets into the elevation chamber where she quickly arrives upstairs. She tip toes through her and her husband's bedroom quietly being sure not to awaken him and gently rests the baby in his crib. She watches for a few minutes as the baby sleeps carelessly and calmly, knowing she'll be awoken in the morning by shrieks and cries but for now, it's peaceful. She climbs back into bed being careful not to risk waking her husband when he slowly rolls over and puts his arm around her.

"Mha wake, couldn't get back to sleep after he started kicking off." He says quietly.

"Oh right. Was worried there. glad I didn't wake you." She replies rolling onto her side.

She looks up at the man before her. At least 10 maybe more years older than her, deep blue eyes, a thick dark hair, still ruggedly handsome with his slightly scruffy beard and frizzled hair. She plays with his chest hair in-between her finger and thumb.

"So tomorrow, I'm thinking I could take Cen, to the graves. I think he should see those who were lost in the destruction and learn of his heritage. I don't want what the Council are predicting that the first generation of New Argos will erase all knowledge of prior Kryptonian and start anew."

He gently brushes her arms with his hand. "Mhm... that sounds nice. I'm gonna try and get some sleep now." He turns and lies flat on his back. His wife puts her arm over his chest and falls asleep with him.

* * *

><p><strong>Earth, The Fortress of Solitude<strong>

Kara watches as Superman writhes on the floor as he beings to have a fit, foam rising from his mouth. Kara tries to reach down to help him when blam! She is shot by Zod as he stands now, with his Kryptonite Laser Rifle. She holds her wounded shoulder looking up at the military man. Krypto growls beside her.

"Kryptonians..." Kara whispers under her breath.

"Hold it girl. I'm not sure how you survived that last round but the next will be your last. Make any sudden moves and you shall be shot. What planet are we on? And why do you wear the Symbol of Brainiac?"

Kara's eyes fixate on Zod before moving back to Clark lying on the floor beside her. She focuses on Zod's gun before unleashing a blast of energy straight at his gun causing it to explode. Surprised by her sudden burst of power she wastes no time worrying and springs into action. She goes for Clark and attempts to fly out of the Fortress when Zod recovers very quickly from the blast. He brushes the dust off his armour and keys in a voice command to his rifle as it reforms to its normal form.

"Activate Shell Shock Mode." He pulls the trigger and KABLOOWWW!

Kara is sent hurtling through the wall of the Fortress and out into the snow below. She scrambles to her feet seeing Clark's busted and bruised body a couple of meters away from her. She looks up to the whole in the Fortress as Zod slowly floats through, walking on air, his hands behind his back as he goes. He looks down on her before slowly descending to the ground. He treads for the first time on Earth's surface, the crisp snow crumbling under his boots. He slowly walks towards Kara, as she puts up her fists to fight him, Krypto by her side.

"A child..."

"I've been trained to hunt and kill Kryptonians all my life, fool! Today I will not be bested."

She rushes forward to battle him when he catches both her hands and slowly begins to bend them back. She cries out in agony.

"I've been trained to hunt and kill anything and anyone, all my life. Today or any other day I cannot be bested." And in one swift movement he punches her across the sea.

Krypto pounces on him before he pushes the War Hound to the ground with one hand. The Animal tries again but before he can even get off the ground Zod puts out his open palm to the Dog's face.

"War Hound, Kneel." He says and the dog instantly obeys his command, sitting with his head down.

"Good dog. Now-" He reaches back for his rifle and to his mental command it turns into a spear, as Zod launches it across the sea in the same direction he launched Kara. "- go fetch."

The dog takes off like a jet after the spear and Zod is left alone. He looks at his palms, thick and powerful, as he clenches them he feels the ice and the Earth beneath him tremble, a new power inside his body unlike any before. He looks up at the yellow sun before him.

"Yes. This shall do nicely." He holds his hand up to the sun gazing straight at it before clenching it away quickly. He looks down at the young man wearing the House of El on his chest before him.

"Hrm."

* * *

><p><strong>The Phantom Zone, 4 Hours later<strong>

Clark's eyelids open like they've got bean bags holding them down. The light of the room he's in blinds him, he can see no colours only darker areas and lighter areas. He hasn't felt this groggy and... weak since the battle with Parasite. He feels thick clamps over his arms and legs as he tries to shake himself awake. Blurry silhouetted figures seem to be in the room with him looking at some screen and discussing something, probably Clark. Last thing he remembers is the man in the Fortress and Kelex's body and something... Green. Green! Colour begins to realign in his vision and it's all around him, on the screens on the computer panels, even near him, that thick coarse feeling of vertigo and weakness. He begins to struggle with the restraints thick against his arm.

"Where 'm I?!" Clark attempts to pronounce before the feeling of stinging vertigo hits him like a truck, right in his neck cracking away at his atomic structure. He screams out in agony as a scientist restrains him with a Kryptonite tipped cattle prod. The pain abruptly stops as Clark hears loud -SHAPOW!- come from the room, he manages to make out one of the scientists being thrown across the room and the other cowering in fear. He looks over to see where the energy blast came from and see a dark haired man walking through the room holding a kryptonite pistol.

"Stand aside!" He commands as he walks over to Clark and dismantles his arm and leg braces, freeing him. He carefully holds Clark as he comes out of the machine holding him up. He puts Clark's arm over his shoulder and carries him out of the room, his other hand still vigilant holding the pistol as they make their way through the Kryptonian hallway.

"Whaz appen in?! Who you?" Clark mumbles.

"Quite. I'm trying to save your life. Move!"

The man kicks down a door as they make their way out into the eternal desert of the Phantom Zone. Waiting for them is a platoon of armed guards all waiting for them. Surprised there are any left after Zod took almost all the army with him after he left the Zone to Earth, the man throws Clark to the side behind a rock and proceeds to blast at them before ducking for cover next to Clark. He reaches out again and fires a few more blasts, grumbling to himself, "Goddamnit, where are you?!"

Clark begins to black out again, his head lying uncomfortably against a rock. The man tries to jostle him awake with the Kryptonite blasts getting closer and closer. Good thing nothing in the Phantom Zone can be changed or affected, thus the rock is staying intact despite the array of powerful Kryptonite Laser blasts it absorbs them all.

Suddenly the firing stops as above them they hear the low whudding of a transporter unit. The man looks up as the small hovercraft begins to fire at the guards causing them to back away. Long tendrils swoop down and lift the two men up on board. The man looks over to see his wife piloting the ship.

"Couldn't have gotten here a little sooner?" The man asks.

"Cen was being difficult, took a while to settle him down okay? Now buckle him down before we get torn to pieces!" She yells. She runs her hand across the control panel selecting small items and swiping others as the shields of the ship being to be depilated by the constant fire of the rifles.

"C'mon Kelex 0775! Move it!" She yells at the old machine. "MOOOVEE!" The ship seems to spring to life and blasts off into the eternal sunset.

* * *

><p><strong>Earth, The North Pole<strong>

Kara seems to fly unconscious and limp for miles. Her body eventually falls to the ground throwing mounds of white snow into the sky like clouds falling from the ground into the air. 3 hours later she wakes up to the smell of thick saliva and a rough wet material being rubbed against her face. She looks up to see Krypto standing over her, his tongue hanging out. She begrudgingly gets to her feet pulling herself out of the icy crater. Krypto puts his paws out like he wants to play and Kara pats him roughly on the head.

"Silly dog. Go play for a bit." She gestures in the general direction for him to go and he instantly leaps off, covering her in snow.

She wipes the snow from herself. She looks in the direction that the Kryptonian punched her and considers returning. She reaches her belt retrieving her signal translator. She holds the device in her hands and selects for it to triangulate the Earth's signals to try and track down the Brainiac ship, see if it has been seen anywhere on Earth but she is met with a very different sight. Images from news stations from all over the Earth pop up on the screen, reporting attacks from Alien ships all troops being extremely powerful people attacking the streets and Earth military, all exhibiting extraordinary superpowers. The images show the large ships as she recognises most of them from her childhood.

She recognises the House Ek a violent warrior House. She recognises the House Fah, one of the houses that helped with the creation of the White Star Molecules. House Ghor a powerful slave labour house, House Eio, a house that many ex- Prime Council members came from and so on and so forth. Powerful houses alone but all together against one world!

She flashes back to Brainiac's training as he told her of the apocalypse in his eyes being that of a Kryptonian Return. The parliament of death restored to power, the one thing she has been trained all her life to prevent has come true in the matter of 3 hours and she was unconscious. She snaps back into it as her signal triangulator beings to pick up Brianiac's ship on Earth. She whistles in a super high frequency to Krypto and in a cloud of snow- BWOOM!- He lands in front of her.

"C'mon boy. Let's go."

The pair takeoff at super fast speeds leaving nothing but dust in their wake.

* * *

><p><strong>The Phantom Zone<strong>

Clark awakens again now lying in a soft bed, still with a stiff headache. His armour has been taken off him and he now wears a Kryptonian vest with a collar and tight fitting trousers. He leans forward in the bed taking in his surroundings. The room is very casually decorated unlike what Clark has seen from the Phantom Zone so far. He looks over to see the Man sitting across from him tapping against a touch pad. Clark notices a tube stuck in his arm and goes to pull it out when the man turns around.

"That's the only thing keeping you from going back into that fit. It's helping you stay adapted to the Phantom Zone's atmosphere and also the Kryptonite all around you."

"Okay. Thanks for uh rescuing me but I'm not sure if I'm safer here or where I was. Speaking of which..."

"You're in the Phantom Zone, a pocket dimension used by Kryptonians to travel long distances in the space of seconds, a through point between space and time. We've been using it for almost a hundred years now. My father discovered that the Phantom Zone was actually a place you could go to, this eternal sun setting rocky landscape that goes on forever."

"And you're, Kryptonians?"

"Yes as you are also. We had to escape our home planet of Krypton after my own creation Brainiac decided to mark us for extinction feeling we were too dangerous to live and to be honest, I can't help but agree with him."

"Brainiac? That's what the girl told me was her Father."

"Girl?"

"Yeah a young girl, 14-15 she had powers like mine, we fought and she told me Brainiac had trained her to kill me and Kryptonians."

"Brainiac has gotten to Earth? Damn. It must've been lost by now."

"Earth? No one of your people killed him. Me and the girl went to the Fortress and found Brainiac's dead body with a male Kryptonian standing over the body."

"Brainiac didn't destroy the Earth?"

"No he didn't get the chance it seems."

"So it was him who opened the Phantom Zone Portal?"

"I assume so, I've never heard of it before. I'm still getting used to the Fortress of Solitude as Kelex has told me."

"Kelex? Hah..."

"Sorry, but who are you and do we need to fight or something?"

"Me? You haven't figured it out yet?"

"Um am I meant to?"

"I'm Jor-El. I'm your father." He says calmly.

* * *

><p><strong>8 Years Ago, Smallville, Kansas<strong>

Clark fiddles with the rim of his bottle trying to seem like it's difficult to open, while Lana sits beside him staring up at the, slowly melting sun as it descends over the endless corn fields. She turns around to him.

"Oh Clark. Just use the bottle opener."

"We have one?"

"Yeah, Mindy gave it be back at the party for some reason." She hands him over the small metallic device, as he goes to take it their fingers brush, sending a tiny jolt of excitement through him.

"Okay, I got it." In a loud click he opens the now warm beer and tries to keep the foam from dripping down his trousers. Lana lays back against the metallic surface of the water tower.

"Reminds me of when we were kids always climbing up things and looking down at the world below us, but I never thought we'd climb this old bastard."

"Hey, give it some respect. If it wasn't for this thing we'd be dead."

"Not really. We could just buy bottled water or whatever."

"Where's your Kansas spirit, Miss Lang? Bottle water?! Pfft. That's what the man wants."

"I'm not a Kansas girl Mr. Kent. I'm getting out of here asap."

"Why? Isn't Smallville just the nicest little town you've ever been too?"

"It's the only town I've ever been too. Same for you."

"What more could you want really?"

"To see the world Clark, to expand and branch out. Meet new people and do new things. Why don't you want that?"

Clark looks down at his palms and feels the strength inside of him bubble away like a kettle.

"Because I'm not like other people. I'm not sure I should leave. I feel this is the only place I'm comfortable in my own skin. I don't know."

"What're you talking about, Clark? You're the most average guy I've ever met, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it in like a cute kinda, average joe, kinda way. What makes you think you couldn't make it in the real world?"

Clark places a steady hand against the side of the large water tank, looking over the small town. Lana is sitting about an arm's length away, but she seems to be edging slowly closer to him as the conversation has gone on. Clark pretends to busy himself by taking a drink from the bottle.

"I, I dunno. You don't know the full Kent story, Lana, I'm different trust me."

"How different? Is it a gross medical thing or something?" She says backing away slightly.

"No no it's nothing like that. I-" Suddenly she puts her head on his shoulder looking off in the distance. He tries desperately to play it cool.

"I someday I'll show you maybe."

She slowly begins to pull her head upwards her tied back hair brushing against his cheek till they're both looking into each other's eyes. They kiss briefly, before pulling away. Clark sighs quietly to himself.

"Why don't you show me today?" She asks quietly, slowly brushing Clark's arm with the back of her fingers.

"Okay. Well, okay." Clark replies. He gets to his feet. The summer wind slowly begins to blow, causing a ripple affect all down his Smallville Crow's Jersey and his slightly muddy jeans. He puts out his hand for Lana to take and he brings her to her feet. He looks down at the ground getting a bearing of how high they are.

"Okay. Hold on tight." He says. She puts her arm around Clark as he slowly moves closer to the edge.

"Clark what're you doing?"

"Just hold tight okay?"

"Clark you're scaring me."

Then without warning Clark leaps off the top of the water tower. The adrenaline kicks in as the wind streams past his ears. He holds out his left arm with his right still holding Lana tightly, he attempts to fly.

He slightly feels himself being pulled upwards, but it looks more like gliding. He manages to get steady when he realises that Lana is shrieking in his ear. He loses focus for a split second and they begin to plummet, too late to try and fly again he grabs her with both hands and allows himself to take the brunt of the collision with the earth. Dirt is thrown into the air as they land with a THWOOM! Lana instantly gets to her feet and continues to shriek in fear. Clark gets up to calm her down.

"OH MY GOD, WHAT? WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"I Lana, you're okay. I just wanted to show-"

"Clark?! How did you- Why- What are you?!" She says terrified.

Clark stares at her as she stands there in shock and leaves the moment to linger in awkwardness. Lana begins to walk away from the grassy field and towards the main road, trembling and quivering.

"I don't know." Clark mutters as she walks away.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Next: <span>Nao Kansas. Jor-El. LOBO!**


	10. Reign: Gotham Part 1

**Reign: Gotham**

**Issue 1 (Of 3) "End of Days."**

**By James Brady**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Gotham City<span>**

Batman has been gone a week now. He left along with my daughter and his teen sidekick Robin to go and aid in the overthrowing of our new Kryptonian Overlords who took over the planet last week. I've been left in charge of Gotham City's police offices. Those who haven't left to be with their families are off looting with the best of them.

Jim Gordon holds the cup of coffee in his cold hands trying desperately to warm them as he clings to the Coffee for dear life. The crisp air slices through his hair like thousands of tiny knives. Jim watches as the people of Gotham City wander around the streets like lost children looking for their parents. He looks up from the murk of the city and sees it. The massive dark Lovecraftian machine known as a Kryptonian Watchtower stands high above the City watching over all of it with the dark purple lights shining out from inside it, housing the one Kryptonian, guarding over the whole city.

Jim stands on the roof, craving a cigarette, for a couple more minutes before heading down into the GCPD offices. The offices are all just as they were left, piles of suspect and witness cases on desks with all the monitors turned off and the chair tucked neatly under the desks. Gordon wanders between the now empty work place sipping at his now cold coffee.

He looks at a pin board with a note with the words, gone missing this week, scrawled on it. Beneath those 20 pictures, all the same size are pinned to the board. Gordon's eyes skim through the once happy faces of family pictures and 'selfies' with friends. ¾ of the images have the note Kr Capt written next to them meaning Kryptonian Capture. His eyes come to the bottom of the list when his heart seems to clench up for half a second. A picture of Barbara with Gordon cut out of the side with the note, Kr Capt scrawled next to it.

"Batgirl." He grumbles to himself. "You had to be a superhero didn't you Babs?"

Gordon pulls his trench coat on over his bullet-proof vest as he exits the empty office and heads out into the blistering cold. He crunches through the snow, wisps of fog clinging around street corners taking the places of hookers and peddlers. He flips a bundle of worn jackets that might have a person inside a couple of nickels as he marches through the matted white slush. He comes to a small corner shop with its windows bashed in and "&$# Kryptonians" sprayed across the door frame. He makes sure his gun is firmly strapped to his leg and his badge is still across his breast pocket before entering.

The place has been thoroughly smashed up by the looters with the floor covered with mashed crisps and tins of cracked Tuna in the new carpet of consumer goods. Gordon opens the counter door and finds a short Muslim man lying with his head against the empty cash register, drooling over the Keys. By his right hand is a small Hello Kitty figurine with, "Thank you, Come again!" Printed on the base. Taped to the wall is a sign saying, "The customer is always right."

Gordon checks for a concussion before turning the man sitting his unconscious body upright on the chair. He is about to reach for a bottle of water to wake him up with but quickly, checking to make sure he's not on security camera, pockets a few cartons on cigarettes.

"No more supplies coming into Gotham or anywhere for that matter." He tells himself. "Gotta make do with what I got."

He opens the bottle and lightly pours a few droplets of the cool drink over his forehead. The man slowly begins to stir mumbling to himself in Arabic. Gordon shakes him gently by the shoulders.

"Sir! Hello sir?"

The man opens his beady wrinkled eyes.

"Wha- huh?" He grumbles.

"Sir, you've suffered a blunt traumatic attack, possibly concussed. I'm with the GCPD, I'm going to take you to a hospital okay? Try not to move. I'll be around with a the car in a sec."

"Mmm..." The man grumbles again before collapsing back onto the counter.

Gordon sighs deeply before leaving the shop. On the way back to the station, he reaches into his pocket for the cigarettes. He pulls on out with his teeth. He pulls out his lighter and flicks the presser. There is a brief spark before nothing. Gordon tires again and again and again but "the damn thing is busted again."

He hops into the abandoned Cop car parked outside the station and drives down to the shop. He goes into the shop and picks up the unconscious shop owner and carries him out into the street. He pushes him into the back seat and struggles to put his seat belt on.

2 minutes of driving slowly through the empty front ridden streets Gordon notices a group of men standing around two burning cars both positioned in the middle of the street. The men all wear hoodies or masks or balaclavas anything to cover their faces while holding rudimentary weapons with a couple of them holding pistols.

Gordon stops the car before turning to his passenger behind him. "Stay right here okay? I'll just be a minute."  
>The shopkeeper continues to drool down himself. "Good boy."<p>

Gordon gets out of the car and heads over to talk to the men. One of them walks up to him.

"Toll!"

"I'm sorry?" Gordon asks.

"Toll! You gots to pay to get through! It's a toll."

"Yeah? You want my money?" Gordon asks calmly pulling a cigarette out of this jacket pocket.

"You think money is still worth something?"

"Well yeah!" The man smirks throwing his hands to the side. "That's the whole point a' money fam!"

He looks Gordon up and down.

"Or if y'a ain't got no money we can accept food or guns or... girls or whatever."

Gordon clears his throat. The frosty breath pouring from his mouth floats up into his glasses giving him an ethereal type look.

"I'm gonna level with you, buddy." Gordon pulls his trench coat to one side to reveal his GCPD badge over his breast pocket.

"I'm part of the PD, now as you've just threatened an officer, it is my duty by Law to bring you to justice." The man squints at Gordon and begins to hold his pistol a little tighter. "But y'know what?"

Gordon in a brisk movement tears the Officer badge off his pocket and leaves it in the snow.

"There is no more justice, because there is no more Gotham City Police Department, because there is no more Gotham, because there is no more world. New reports are in, people. Batman has left Gotham. Superman hasn't been seen for weeks. Aliens with God like Superpowers have invaded Earth and are slowly pieces by piece turning it into their home planet. You think they're stop because you've rattled a few hundred bucks outta some cop? It's the end of days and people are still tearing into each other like animals. Go home. Be with your families while you still can. Push these cars out of the road and let me get this guy to the hospital."

The men stand around and look at one another. The main man steps forward and pulls away his balaclava. He looks to be a young Latin America guy, early twenties. He turns around to the other men.

"... Alright get em off the road." The other men look at each other sort of bewildered like before deciding to push the cars apart. The young guy turns back to Gordon.

"It's jus, me mama's gone missing while in her car, yeah? I figured I find her car, I find me mama. Dees guy's suggested the whole toll thing. I know you ain't a cop no more but... I...can you help me find her?" The man seems to get slightly teary. "If it's the end of days like you said... I wanna be with her y'know."

Gordon looks into the young man's eyes through his steamed up glasses.

"I'll see what I can do."

"I'm... I'm James by the way. James Carlos. My mama's called Zoe Carlos. Try'n find her yeah?" He puts his hand out to Gordon. They shake hands briefly.

"James..." Gordon pauses in a moment of thought before continuing. "You got a light?" Gordon asks.

"Uh yeah." James pulls a lighter out of his pocket and lights Gordon's cigarette.

"Thank," Gordon says heading back to the car.

* * *

><p><strong>4 Minutes later<strong>

Gordon pulls up at the side of the hospital steps out onto the slanted ground. He goes into the deserted gloomy lobby that also seems to have been looted and finds an overturned wheelchair by the lying across the ground. He pushes it out of the hospital and in front of the car. He awkwardly puts the still unconscious old man into the wheelchair and takes him into the Hospital. He comes into the building and wheels him down the first abandoned hallway that looks promising.

"Hello?!" He calls out. "Helloooo!"

He continues down the hallway and comes to the elevators. Assuming they won't work Gordon decides to take the stairs. He leaves the man in the wheelchair by the staircase as he goes up alone, torch in his right hand, his left really not wanting to reach for his gun.

"Helloo!" Gordon calls up.

He walks through the medical wards and past the rooms of empty beds. He suddenly realizes that many of the beds have been straight up taken out of the rooms with large empty spaces in some rooms.

Gordon follows the trail of taken beds till he hears something, a low whirring sound. He slows his pace as the sound gets nearer. He reluctantly puts his cigarette out on the nearest wall and continues.

At the edge of a hall way, Gordon sees three empty hospital beds strewn like playing cards across a poker table. He peeks his head down the side of the hallway into the dark corridor. There is a shining blue light coming from one of the rooms with 6 other empty hospital beds placed around the corridor. Under the low whirring sound seems to be some Orchestral music playing with a voice, humming following along with the tune.

Gordon slowly makes his way down the hallway till he is right next to the door.

He leaps out and yells "Freeze!" but the shock of what he saw pauses him momentarily...

Over an operating system, a tall skinny man in a burlap scarecrow esc mask, hunches over the large body of an obese woman with large amounts of different body parts sewn in place of her own creating a large disgusting creature. A large operating light reveals the operating table in clear view but away in the darkened corner of the room is a pile of dead bodies all with various different body parts missing.

"Hrm...?" The scarecrow man mumbles as he slowly turns around.

Realising Gordon's shock and horror have momentarily glued him to the spot the man launches himself at Gordon, syringe in one hand, bloody operating scissors in the other.

Gordon snaps out of it in the nick of time to catch the man's right hand but doesn't notice the scissors plunging into his abdomen. He tries to cry out in pain, but he grits he teeth all the tighter. In a moment of supreme will power, Gordon pushes the mad man off of himself throwing the spindly freak away onto the ground. Gordon leaves no time to spare and launches back into the fray.

He pulls the man up from the ground and punches him as hard as he can breaking as many teeth as he can in doing so. The scarecrow man flies against the side of an operating tool cabinet, smashing the glass. Gordon kicks him across the face, more glass and teeth being thrown around the room before Gordon pushes him up against the wall, holding the man up with both his hands.

"You sick piece of #*&^!"

"Phaha. Oh lookit this! Some idealistic doo gooder still trying desperately to uphold justice AND! and Honor! Ghahahaa!"

"Shut the # ^% up!" Gordon says smacking the man down to the ground again. Gordon pulls the man's burlap off his head, revealing a mop of messy blonde hair. The man looks to be a young, about early 20's.

"I'm a cop." Gordon replies. "It's my *&^ ing job."

"Oh god. Don't get me started on jobs. GET A &^%$ING JOB. My Mom'd yell at me. Never understood did she. SEND YOU TO ARKHAM LIKE YOU'RE FATHER! Like I'm some crazy person! Phffaa... she can yell all she wants. First thing I did when the Mayor declared martial law before that Kryptonian killed him, was put her in her goddamn wheel chair and throw her off the pier and then I got to work, y'see. Making myself a new Mom. A better &^%+ing Mom."

"You killed people."

"Oh for the love of god! These people had been dead days by the time I got here. All in comas y'see. Government cut off all the power when the aliens showed up, their support systems went in seconds. All the doctors up and left as you can see and all I was doing try and give them their lives back. It maybe in some creepy morbid body but its life..."

"You're sick."

"Yes thank you, so I've been told. Now are you going to piss off and let me continue my work? It's not like there's any point in arresting me."

Gordon steps back and looks at the bodies lying on the floor. He puts his head in his hands as the scarecrow boy tries to pick his teeth up off the ground.

"Theft, disorderly conduct, vadilism of private property." Gordon mumbles to himself. His head still in his hands.

"Huh?" The man asks.

"Theft, disorderly conduct, vandalism of private property. You're under arrest." He says slowly, lifting his head from his hands and looking up at the now standing man.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?" Gordon says growing more powerful and defiant as the speech goes on.

"Y-yes sir." The man says.

Gordon grabs him, turns him around and holds his wrists together. He walks him through the corridor and down the stairs. Past the old man in the wheelchair and out into the snow. Gordon pushes him into the car and locks the doors. The man watches as Gordon walks back into the hospital.

Bright lights pierce the mushy thickness of the man's blurred vision as he comes to. He sees Gordon's face looking up at him.

"Whi... where am I...?"

"You're okay Mr. Kamaz. You've suffered a blow to the head. I'm James Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department. You're going to be okay now. I've bandaged your head and, oh take these." Gordon hands him a packet of opened pain kills and a glass of cold murky water barely filled even a quarter of the way.

"Sorry about the water. Had to melt some snow into the cup with my hands, and someone's already stolen all the bottled water from the little kiosk, waters been cut off like everything else."

"Th-thank you." The man says taking the pain killers, tipping his head back as far as it can go.

"I thought all the Police had ran off. I tried to call the 911 when those boys started smashing and looting from my shop, but there was no answer."

"Well... I'm still here. You should be fine to walk now but just go easy on yourself. I'll give you a ride home."

"Thank you, Mr. Gordon, but there isn't a home for me to go to. I told my wife to leave town to stay with her sister, the second things started looking bad. I've been sleeping in my shop the last couple of nights, daren't go back to my old apartment with all the looters and gangs on the streets. If you take me there I'll be fine."

"Listen. I've got no one staying at my place. Come back there will you? Just for one night."

"No no. It doesn't matter anymore. It is the end of days like the Quran had foretold; our Earth being substituted with a new Earth, mountains being carried into the sky and crushed like rocks. The Moon will split when the hour is at hand."

"It's not that hour yet, sir. C'mon. I've gotta drop off some trash at the station."

* * *

><p><strong><span>GCPD Station<span>**

Gordon pulls the now handcuffed scarecrow boy out of the car and into the building. He pulls him down the stairs and throws him in a crusty old jail cell and locks the doors. He grabs a clipboard, a sheet of paper and pen.

"Name?" He asks sternly.

"Harris Woodward."

"Age?"

"20."

"Residence?"

"West End, Kidsgrove Apartment Block 4, Apartment 43."

"In the morning I'll be accepting bail charges from friends or a loved one. Expect a court mandate to be received in the post in the next week or so."

"The postal service is still running?"

"No. I'll deliver it if no one else will."

"Okay... and you'll be the Judge and the jury and my lawyer and my witness, Mr. Gordon?"

"... We'll see." Gordon says before closing the door and locking it behind him.

Gordon's apartment

Farhan Kamaz sits in the living room on Gordon's sofa reading the old copies of the Gotham Gazette newspaper. Gordon walks through carrying two open tins of baked beans with forks sticking out of them. He hands one to Mr. Kamaz. Gordon sits down next to him.

"Sorry about the lack of better reading material." He says gesturing to the pile of old newspapers. "My wife was the big literature fan of the house. My daughter Barbara isn't as much into reading and she's more into teen fiction books. I assume you're not a fan off."

"It's okay. I was just looking up the Football scores. I like to keep a mental track of who would be playing who at the moment if... well if, y'know."

Gordon nods agreeing.

"We used to have a big bookcase over there, filled with her books. Now it's just..." Gordon looks over at the piles and piles of case files where the bookcase used to be. "... work... stuff."

They sit awkwardly for a few moments eating their beans before Gordon gets up again. "I'm going to go out. I'll be back in a half an hour."

Gordon pulls on his trench coat and walks down the stairs of the apartment. He walks out into the street and gets into the GCPD responder and heads for the station.

* * *

><p><strong><span>GCPD <span>**

Gordon bursts into the offices and races up the stairs. He comes to the pin board with all the missing pictures on it and picks it up. He is about to leave when he sees the door to the stair well, leading to the roof, opened. Gordon cautiously puts the board down and walks over to the stair well. He pulls out his gun and slowly walks up the stairs trying to cause as little creaking as possible. He slowly opens the door to the roof and looks out side, his gun steady in his palm. He looks across the snow covered tarmac of the roof to see a tall muscular harsh man wearing a black vest and a wrestler's mask standing looking out over the city, his hands militaristically held behind his back. Very calmly, he turns his head around to see Gordon.

"Mr. Gordon. I am Bane and I'm here to discuss taking back your city."

* * *

><p><strong>Next: Bane! Where's all the crime during the Reign? What's going on in <strong>Akrham**?!**


	11. Reign Of Krypton 3: Schemers

**REIGN OF KRYPTON #3**

**"Schemers"**

**By Ivan Krolo**

**Bottom of the Sea...**

"Have you arrived at Atlantis Faora?" Inquires Zod over the ship's communications systems while Faora observes the ocean floor through a camera view of the vessels surroundings from the comfort of her seat. With her is a small squad of three other soldiers. The first sits at the command console, controlling the ships movements. The second is to her left, monitoring its integrity and systems. The last is at Faora's side, acting as her bodyguard.

"Soon, General, but I feel the need to say this one more time, I do **not** like this plan one bit."

"Just as I knew you wouldn't. But this task was far too important for me give to anyone else."

"I'm glad my many years of dedicated service have culminated in me becoming highly valuable bait for you to toss sir." She reiterates nonchalantly, earning a genuine laugh from Zod.

"There's that delightful snark of yours I do so enjoy." Retorts Zod after catching his breath, "Its one of your finest qualities *he smirks* among other things."

"Careful, General." She says with a seductive tone and smirk forming on her face, "Words like that are better left to... private conversations."

Before they can continue, however, the soldier stationed at the command consoles turns to face her. "Commander Faora! Our scanners are picking up activity outside the ships! It must be the Atlanteans!"

"You know what to do. I expect nothing less than perfection." He commands her one last time before ending communication while the ship stops dead in its tracks.

"We're surrounded?" She inquires calmly while the soldier at the console gives her an affirmative nod and states, "Yes, Commander; our scanners are picking up heat signatures from both soldiers and beasts alike. What do you want us to do?"

"I will handle this. The rest of you don't do or say anything to provoke them. Their presence here is a clear sign that they're prepared, and paranoid in equal measure, anything could set them off."

"Understood Commander!" The three soldiers say in unison while Faora opens the ships communication channels. Within a few seconds, Faora receives a call from the Atlantean forces outside and wastes no further time in answering it. A large, holographic monitor appears in front of her with an Atlantean officer, fully clad in his cultures armor from head to toe on the other end.

"You've crossed into Atlantean territory without proper permission offworlder. You are to leave here this instant or suffer the consequences." He states in a firm, militaristic fashion.

"My apologies for trespassing unannounced, Commander. But I come here to discuss business with your king on behalf of both General Zod and the people of Krypton."

"Of what business do you speak of?" He inquires with Faora answering with, "An alliance between our species, one which will rid this world of your most hated adversary, the polluting Earthlings."

**Rock of Eternity**

Bill Batson sits on the edge of a small cliff overlooking the central area of the Rock of Eternity where the other heroes are all gathered, each of them putting the necessary equipment of their new headquarters in place. Though he'd like to help, his Captain Marvel body leaves him trained after turning back, making continued use of a taxing process for him.

So he rests and watches the new generation of heroes as they go about their business with a smile on his face. From Green Lantern complaining to Flash about taking orders from a "nut in a bat costume" while lifting heavy equipment to the teenagers chatting about Quentin Tarantino films as they prepare the computer systems, he almost forgets about the invasion of his home world happening outsid. Almost.

"It's been a long time since I've seen such a pleased look on your face, Bill." States a disembodied voice in his head, the voice belonging to the Wizard Shazam, keeper of the Rock of Eternity. "It almost reminds me of the first time I laid eyes on you, just a child wanting to better the world."

"A lot of things have changed since then I'd say." Replies the old hero as the memories of the past flash before his eyes.

"Indeed, and as per our agreement a few more changes are still to come."

"I'll uphold my end of the bargain Wizard, I just wish I had more time..."

"Death comes for us all, Billy, but take comfort my boy." He says reassuringly. "A new age is coming; the time of heroes is upon us yet again and I have a feeling these ones will be greatest yet."

"Hey, old timer!" Says a loud voice shaking Billy out of his trance, the voice of Green Lantern hovering before him and waving his hand. "Don't die on me, old man, or else Batman's never gonna let me hear the end of it."

Billy chuckles and gets on his feet, "Sorry about that, my mind just wandered off there for a second. Mind helping me down?"

"Sure thing." Hal creates a platform from his ring and flies over to the command table where the others are waiting for them. He lowers Billy to the ground and the two promptly sit down. At the tip of the table is Batman with Billy and Hal to his right and left respectively. The remaining seats are filled by Robin, Batgirl, Kid Flash, Zatanna, Flash, Alfred (in disguise), Green Arrow and Black Canary.

"Now that we're all here we can get started, Thomas." States Batman while Alfred activates the holographic computer systems inside the table, dozens of small screens appear before the heroes with footage of Kryptonian occupation from all over the globe. "As I'm sure you know, 72 hours ago our world became the target of a planetary invasion at the hands of the same species as Superman. Needless to say, the results have been... catastrophic."

"You don't know the half of it." Speaks up Ollie while crossing his arms. "Canary and I were out there trying to get people to safety, but these alien freaks, no offense there GL, just kept coming. The bastards overran our whole camp in no time."

"At least you guys didn't get stomped on by that oversized ape Zod's got following im around." Counters Hal though the others choose to ignore him and proceed with the meeting.

"Regardless." Says Batman. "The world governments have all either surrendered to the new regime or they've been beaten into submission. For all intents and purposes, we're the only ones left who can save the planet."

"Isn't there anyone else we can ask for help? Like Aquaman or maybe Wonder Woman?" Inquires Barry

"I haven't seen Diana in years, Flash." Says Billy. "She and her people returned to isolation on Paradise Island decades ago, even my powers won't be able to contact her. I doubt she even knows what's happening."

"And Aquaman's sealed up Atlantis on a physical and magical level." Continues Zatanna. "Neither mine nor Billy's teleportation spells can reach down there or any spell for that matter."

"We don't need those guys!" Yells Hal getting every ones attention, "All we need is some help from the Guardians and a squad of Lanterns and boom! We'll have this planet back in no time." He says confidently while the others give him skeptical looks.

"You mean like how you were sure that we'd kick Zod's ass back at Washington?" Counters Wally, immediately wiping the smirk of Hal's face.

"Okay, okay, I got cocky there and it didn't go well I know. But the Guardians and other Lanterns out there are professionals, they've been dealing with this kind of stuff since before mankind showed up on Earth."

"And you haven't called them because...?" Asks Black Canary with Hal gulping and hesitantly looking around the table.

"Well... the thing is... Zod and his crew are jamming my signal with Oa which means I can't get a message out from here. I need to get off world and tell them in person."

"You do realize there are at least 2 dozen ships flying all over the entire planet right?" Quips Ollie. "Even with that ring of yours those guys'll tear you to shreds before you can reach the upper atmosphere."

"... At least I'd last longer than you." He mutters while crossing his arms while the others merely sigh.

"Ignoring that last comment." Continues Batman. "Lantern's idea could be what helps tip the scales in this war in our favor. All we need to do is break their formation of ships and give him a window of opportunity."

"Teleporting inside one of their ships and taking control of it at least temporarily should do the trick." Theorizes Canary. "But we're gonna need more then the gear in this place to do that, most of us can't run super fast or make things with their mind. If we try to attack as we are now they'll kill us for sure."

"Agreed. Luckily for us, there may be someone who can help us." States Batman before using his control console to display footage from Superman's battle with Parasite in the desert. "Several weeks ago, Parasite attacked Metropolis and left much of the city in ruins. Superman flew him over to the desert where he proceeded to nearly beat him to death."

"And this is relevant how?" Wonders Hal.

"Its relevant, **Lantern**," He growls growing annoyed with his antics, "Because the battle was broadcast to the entire planet, just to make Superman look bad. While the rest of the world was gawking at it, I managed to connect to a signal which took control of every satellite orbiting the planet. I managed to trace it back to its origin and I found it originated from Lex Luthor..."

**Atlantis, Throne Room**

Arthur sits on his kingdoms throne with a stern expression on his face, his trident in hand and his wife Mera sitting to his left. To his right stands the small council consisting of Koah, the hand of the king, Marga, representative of the people, and Kae, secretary of defense. Before him stands a small contingent of the finest warriors Atlantis has to offer, ready to protect their king should anything go wrong.

"Let her in." He says with the closest guard nodding before sending a message to her escort. In a matter of moments, the doors of the de-flooded chamber open and through it comes Faora with a pair of soldiers at each side escorting her inside. Arthur's expression softens up and a friendly smile appears on his face.

"Commander Faora, it is an honor to have you here. I trust you and you men have been treated well since you've arrived?"

"The honor is mine, your majesty." She says in a respectful and formal tone while bowing before hi. "And yes, we have, though I was a bit nervous about the large squadron of soldiers we met at the border."

"Understandable, but in times such as these we can't take any chances. The destruction that's been happening on the surface world has left some of my subjects... worried, despite your leaders claims that we'd be spared of it."

She rises back to her feet and returns his smile. "I assure you, your majesty, while we've taken more drastic measures while dealing with the Earthlings, we have no intention of doing anything of the sort to your people. But if you wish to be sure, I can contact General Zod directly and have him wipe away any fears you may have. May I?"

"You may."

She nods in understanding and promptly activates her gauntlet built communicator, almost immediately a man-sized holographic projection of General Zod appears before her. He gives the Atlanteans present a warm smile and bows before Arthur. "Your majesty."

"General Zod. You may rise."

The Kryptonian leader does so and allows Arthur to continue. "Commander Faora here has told me you wish an alliance between my kingdom and your new dominion empire on the surface of Earth. If I may be so bold to ask, for what purpose?"

"The purpose is very simple your majesty. My people are from the stars, as such our ambitions lie there. We have no designs upon the sea of this world, nor do we want war with your formidable civilization. This alliance would effectively make you the sole, undisputed rulers of the oceans where your wildlife and people would never have to worry about pollution or outside interference. All we want in return is to be allowed dominion, of the surface where we too can live out our lives in peace."

"Hm." Ponders Arthur while Mera decides to join in.

"How can we be sure your own constructions wouldn't result in the same havoc caused by the Earthlings? Your technology is more advanced than theirs, of that we're certain, but it still requires resources to be fueled by."

"That's exactly correct, Queen Mera. No amount of technological advancement can remove the necessity for some resource to power it with. But none of the materials on Earth are of any use to us, we have our own in the Phantom Zone and as such we have no need to harvest any of Earths."

Arthur subtly looks around and notices the expressions on every ones faces. All of them either intrigued or fully ready to accept this proposal. "This can't come to pass." He thinks to himself before speaking up. "This deal sounds almost too good to be true, General. And while none would be happier than I for it to be true, what proof do you have for me?"

Zod merely smirks and states. "A fair question, your majesty, which is why I had a demonstration prepared just-in-case. Faora?"

She nods and presses a couple more buttons, a second screen appears next to Zod showing live footage of the Indian Ocean. "This is the spot where a corporation known as Clear Waters incompetence resulted in several consecutive oil spills which have poisoned your home and destroyed precious wildlife. Even now your soldiers have been ineffective in cleaning it, and many others across the world, am I correct?"

_"This isn't good..."_ He thinks before answering. "You speak the truth General, but what of it?"

"Look closely, your majesty, and behold the evidence you so desire." On the screen, a small Kryptonian ship flies over the center of the massive oil spill, the ships throws a small capsule-like device into the ocean, promptly releasing a chemical from within. The chemical clears away the massive amounts of oil, leaving the ocean just as pure and clean as it was in the old days before mankind could even build a ship.

Everyone in the room gasps in shock with many of them smiling at the sight of it all, even Arthur who forces one to keep appearances in front of the Kryptonian.

"Now then your majesty; what say you?"

**Next issue the heroes make their move on Lexcorp, what has the ambitious billionaire been planning all this time? Find out in Reign #4!**

**As for what Arthur will do with this situation, read on in Reign of Krypton: Aquaman by Brian Benjamin (Suicide Squad, ****Aquaman**** and The Outlaws) coming soon!**


	12. Reign: Gotham Part 2

**Reign: Gotham**

**"To The Dark Tower Came"**

**Issue 2 (Of 3) By James Brady**

* * *

><p><strong>2 Days ago, Gotham City<strong>

The Vincefinkel Bridge was constructed in 1846 by famous architect Cyrus Pinkney, used to connect the small Island of Gotham to the rest of the Country. Since Gotham's inception the Bridge is almost always used for outgoing traffic rather than incoming traffic. The only traffic that comes into Gotham are vans carrying either Akrham Inmates being admitted or corporate supply trucks, very rarely are there cars coming in. For the past two weeks the Bridge has been used almost never with every now and again a family packing up and leaving. Today James Gordon got a call from Mr. Finger, the tollgate operator, the last one who has stayed, saying that, a car is entering Gotham and that James is going to want to see who it is.

Gordon leaves the Office of the GCPD and drives up towards the Bridge. Thick fresh snow layers the ground of the Bridge as Gordon is forced to get out and walk. He sees another Police Car stop as the Driver decides to walk the rest of the way rather than risk the chance of a crash due to the thick ice under the snow.

They two individuals meet.

"You know this is basically suicide right? No one ever comes back to Gotham City." Gordon says cynically with a hint of playfulness in his tone.

"Always the nihilist eh, Jimmy? Look on the bright side," He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a large metallic box with a small lightning bolt symbol on the side. "- I brought the fuse box that you wanted."

"Great, thanks, Harv." Gordon says taking the box from him and putting it in the trunk of the Police Car.

Officer Bullock hands Gordon a cigar and the two smoke atop the Bridge looking over Gotham and towards the dark Kryptonian Tower at the edge of town.

"Creepy innit?" Bullock shudders.

"I never get used to seeing it." Gordon grumbles. "I'm glad you're back. We're gonna need all the hands we can get on this one."

"Yeah. Even if it is suicide, your plans are always a laugh, despite the circumstances. It's the end of the world and you have a plan, some cocky bastard you are."

"We're taking it back, Harv. We're taking it all back."

"Me an' you... against a Kryptonian? I like David Vs. Goliath stories as much as the next guy but this is ridiculous."

"I got a guy." James says with a smirk. "C'mon. We've got a stop to make on the way back to town."

* * *

><p><strong>4 Days Ago<strong>

The Police Car rolls through the streets of The West End further into the darkness of the city. James Gordon feels the great power that almost seems to emit from Bane who sits beside him. They sit in solemn silence as they drive on.

"You think he'll have much resistance? He was Gotham's most powerful crimelord after all." Bane asks.

"Oh please, the guy's probably eating out of the garbage like the rest of us."

"You're eating out of the Garbage?"

"It's not like I stocked up tinned food that much. I was a microwave dinner guy."

"I haven't eaten in years."

"What?"

"You remember. Back when I first battled Batman I was hooked on the Venom Drug, meant I never had to eat or sleep. Water was the only sustenance I'd ever need."

"Did you crap?"

"Well... I mean yes. The excess venom had to go somewhere. It was... painful."

"And how're you coping without it? What with Batman cutting off your supply and all."

"Cut off my supply? Him defeating me made me realise, I was using it as a crutch. I went into the Patagonian jungle and went cold. I had to re learned basically how to walk and speak, I was so mentally and physically drained after it."

"That's pretty intense. I know it doesn't really compete but after my wife died, I became an alcoholic. It was bad for a while, I almost lost my job and I went to help groups and eventually I kicked it and I got myself back together. It was a difficult time for me but, y'know Barbra helped me get through it and I was proud for a while y'know."

"Was proud?"

"Yeah well y'know how I said I didn't stockpile tinned food?"

"Yes?"

James pulls a small bottle of whisky from under the glove box of the car.

"I've started drinking again." He says solemnly.

The car pulls up in front of a small dark building with iron railings outside, trapped in snow. Gordon pulls his coat over his shoulder as he exits the car with Bane following in his huge billowing manner.

Gordon walks to the door and knocks.

"You're just going to knock on the door?" Bane questions. "Are you suicidal? Because if you are I'd best know."

"I'm not. I'm fine."

They wait for another few seconds before Gordon tries to door handle. It slowly creeks open. Gordon reaches for his coat and opens it revealing his worn down badge. He pokes his head in the door and shouts,

"I'm an officer of the law, I'm now entering this residency. I am armed!"

He steps back and waits for a few seconds before turning and walking into the building.

"That outta do it."

The pair walk into the building with Bane bending down to fit through the door frame. Gordon watches a couple of birds fly over head. All through the building are large empty crates. They walk through the creepy old house and up a flight of stairs. Gordon keeps his hand on his gun as they go.

"Shh..." Bane whispers.

"Huh?" Gordon listens and hears faint music. They go towards the source and come to an old drawing room. Outside the door a family of quails peck at left over grain. Gordon is about to go to open the door when Bane puts his hand on his gently pushes Gordon out of the way and steps into the room himself.

The room is covered in large cages filled with birds. A short fat man dressed in dirty pyjamas feeds the birds from a large sack of seeds. He seems to be mumbling to himself with an umbrella under his arm as a record player plays low Jazz music.

"Oswald Cobblepot." Bane says.

The short man slowly turns his face revealing his small flattened face with a disproportionate nose pointing out like a icicle. A monocle is plugged into his left eye and a cigarette is stuffed in his mouth.

"What?" He grunts in his harsh nasally voice.

"Mister Cobblepot, I'm James Gordon of the GCPD and this is um... Bane. We're going to need your help."

"My help?" He grunts turning around fully to face them. "What could you possibly want to do?"

"We're looking to take back our city." Gordon says seriously.

The Penguin stares at the two men, silently watching them as his face slowly begins to break into a smile.

"Waugh... Waugh... whaughwaughwaughwaughwaughWAUGHWAUGHWAUGHWAUGGHHHH!" The Penguin begins to laugh his maniacal, creepy, almost inhuman laugh almost keeling over. Gordon and Bane look at each other awkwardly.

The Penguin eventually stops laughing and rubs the tears from his eyes with his white gloves.

"ahhhhh... Alright when do we start?"

* * *

><p><strong>Now, The East End<strong>

Holly Robinson stares out her window as the snow comes down over the roof tops of the city, not too far away from her, just off the shore behind the large cargo warehouses is the huge spiralling Macabre Kryptonian tower, its intricate technological spires warped around the huge glowing panels. Holly taps at the cold window, her breath fogging up the glass.

Thunk!

Holly turns around to see her roommate, Selina tightening the laces on her leather boot while wearing a skin tight leather outfit. On the sofa is a cat like mask with goggles.

"Didn't know you where still workin with the whole Kryptonian Apocalypse thing going on. Another fetish client?" Holly asks.

"Not exactly." Selina replies.

"What's with the cat mask?"

"Y'know that Batman guy?"

"NO! He's your client?"

"What no! It's just like, he wears a Mask that looks like a Bat and I'm gonna wear a Mask that looks like a cat."

"Do you know where he is? Are you gonna # *& him?"

"Holly no calm down. I'm not no." She grabs the mask and shows it to Holly. "This is our way out. This is why we're never gonna hook again."

"So this is what you've been doing all these nights and sneakin in at 6 in the morning and the Judo and Karate lessons. Well hate to break it to you Selly but it's the end of the world, we ain't gonna do nothing no more."

Selina walks over to the window and opens it as far as it can go letting a draft it. She gets onto the ledge and turns to look at Holly.

"Not if I can help it."

She then leaps out of the building and away into the dark. Holly calls after her but she's on a roll.

Selina stomps along the crunchy roof top snow, she leaps from one building to the next and lands with a thwud and a pulse of adrenaline. She continues over the houses till she comes close to the docks where she sees it, The Kryptonian Tower. She cracks her knuckles and continues towards the Dark Tower.

* * *

><p><strong>2 Days ago, The Batcave<strong>

Alfred feeds the Bats of the cave chucking the fried chicken up at them as they leap from their perching spots, catching the chicken in their small claws and teeth and tearing them to shreds. Alfred usually enjoys watching the colony of bats eating but there is coldness in their being. Something not right.

He dusts down the Batmobile half way and then gives up. He looks at the case of the empty Batsuits. The new ones and the ones Bruce is trying to fix. They all look so immaculate in their cases.

Alfred wonders if Bruce is still keeping the diary like he told him to. He wonders if he's looking after Dick Grayson and Barbara like he should be. He wonders... if he'll ever come back and what Alfred will do with all of... this... Will he sell them? How do you sell a Batmobile?

He suddenly hears the door bell alarm from the Computer and rushes up the stairs. He walks through the hall ways of Wayne Manor and comes to the large oak door. He looks through the latch to see James Gordon and Harvey Bullock standing in the door way.

He opens the door.

"Mister Pennyworth. I'm James Gordon of the GCPD. This is my partner Harvey Bullock and we'd like to ask you about your employer, Mister Wayne."

"Ah. Um. Of course come in officers. Can I get you anything to eat or drink?"

"We're good thanks."

Gordon and Bullock step into the mansion and follow Alfred into the lounge. Jim and Alfred sit down on opposite chairs as Harvey begins to patrol the room looking around suspiciously. Jim begins to write on a piece of paper while talking to Alfred.

"Bruce Wayne hasn't been seen in Gotham for a few weeks now and because of the... current situation we're trying to make sure who has and who hasn't been captured by the Kryptonian living outside of Gotham."

"Ah well you see Mister Wayne left Gotham on a business trip to Europe a day or so before the Kryptonian took residence in the city and due to... the current situation he hasn't been able to get a return flight. I haven't heard from him since the power went out."

"Ah. Very well that's all I needed to know. If you learn anymore about Mister Wayne's whereabouts please contact me on my cellphone or visit me at this address."

Gordon hands Alfred a piece of paper and gets up to leave.

"Glad I could be of service." Alfred says as they leave the Manor.

"Stay safe now." Gordon says getting into the police car.

As they drive away Alfred looks down at the note. It reads.

Meet me at Outside the Ice Berg Lounge at Midnight. We've got a lot to discuss.

Next to it is a small drawing of the Batman Logo.

Now, Kryptonian Tower

Selina begins to climb up the large spire towards the top of the Tower. The technological legs of the huge Tower almost seem to hum with energy. She feels to cold pinching at her but she continues to climb higher. She manages to make it to the top of the huge spire to the large circular base at the top. She sits in-between the spires and waits. She hears the thunderous footsteps of the Kryptonian as he roams around the Tower.

"C'mon Gordon. Where's my distraction?" She whispers under her breath.

* * *

><p><strong>3 Days Ago, Warehouse<strong>

The Penguin and Bane stand in the abandoned warehouse with James Carlos and his gang standing behind them. In front of them are a group of about 20 men all with some kind of creepy Black Mask on.

"And where is The Black Mask?" Bane asks.

One of the Black Mask Gang Members steps forward. "He skipped town. We're all that's left."

"And this is it? With the Falcone's taken out* we're all that's left of Gotham's organised crime." Penguin asks with a snort.

"Pretty much." The Gang Member says.

"You get the goods?" Penguin asks.

"Yep." The Gang Member replies.

One of the Blackmask Gang Members pushes a crate trolley towards them. They open it to reveal the piles of Fireworks inside.

"Haha! Not bad." Penguin says rubbing his hands. He turns to see Bane's reaction but instead of looking at the fireworks he's looking at the Gang Members.

"'This won't be enough, Cobblepot. We need more men." Bane says with a hint of anger in his otherwise monotone voice.

"Hey I did what the plan said! How is this my fault? Huh?" Penguin snarls looking up at Bane.

Before Bane can answer another voice enters the room.

"I hope I'm not intruding gentlemen..."

They turn to see a man wearing an impressive business suit standing in the hallway. On his face is a creepy looking white Owl Mask.

"But if you're looking for numbers. I believe I can assist."

"Damn..." Bane mumbles.

* * *

><p><strong>2 Days Ago, The Ice Berg Lounge<strong>

Alfred pulls up in the Wayne Limo outside the Ice Berg Lounge. He stops himself from instinctively opening the back door of the limo and walks towards the entrance. James Carlos and his gang stand at the exit relaxing and smoking Bullock's Cigars. Alfred approaches.

"Um hello. I'm supposed to meet James Gordon of the GCPD here. I'm um Alfred Pennyworth."

"Pennyworth? Yeah Gordon's inside with the others."

"Others?" Alfred thinks to himself as he walks through the doors.

The once roaring Lounge and Bar is turned into a murky dank palace with Candles lighting the blue colour scheme of the room. Around the circular table in the middle of the room are James Gordon, Bane, Catwoman and The Penguin with a large map of Gotham in the middle of the table.

"Who's this?" Bane asks.

"This is Alfred Pennyworth. The last man with access to electricity and technology in all of Gotham." Gordon says stepping forward to shake his hand.

"Um hello. What exactly is this Mister Gordon?" Alfred asks slightly confused and frightened.

"Welcome to the resistance Pennyworth. Pull up a seat."

Now, The Roof of the GCPD

James and Alfred carry a large metal circular disk up the steps of the stair well towards the Roof. Gordon opens the door to the roof and they carry the large disk out onto the top of it.

They put it down with a thunk next to the Bat Signal.

"Good job on the diverting of the power from the Manor to here by the way." Gordon says as he walks over to the Signal. "Worked like a charm."

"Somehow Bruce knew buying up the power company was a going to come in handy."

Gordon fits the fuze box given to him by Bullock into the place of the old broken one. With a fritz of electricity the Signal begins to hum with power.

Gordon pulls out a screw driver and starts to unscrew the bolts of the large metal symbol and drop them on the ground. Soon all the bolts are off and Gordon with the help of Alfred are able to lift the metal symbol off the Signal. They put it to one side.

"Alright. Now for the new one." Gordon says.

* * *

><p><strong>Now, The Tower<strong>

Nam-Ek one of Zod's most trusted and most powerful field commanders does one handed push ups on the floor in the middle of the Kryptonian Tower. His massive body rises up and down as he doesn't break a sweat. He eventually gets frustrated and slams his fist on the floor creating a large dent that quickly heals itself. The computer system of the Tower begins to speak.

"Lord Ek. You're heart rate has increased dramatically. Is there something wrong?"

"Yes! How dare Zod leave me here to keep watch on some insignificant human rat hole?" He clenches his fist as he begins to pace the floors.

"I have the power of a god. I should be out there conquering this land like I did back on Krypton not sitting here with all my power doing nothing! I can't sweat, I can't tire! I'm restless! This is what I was made for, Conquer! And Zod has the audacity to leave me here like I'm some underling!"

"How about we test your mental skills? We could play chess again or-"

"Silence! I grow weary of your talk."

Nam-Ek wanders over to the walls of the tower and looks out into the night sky over the city.

"This pathetic city..." He grumbles to himself.

He stares across the sky line till he sees a ray of light beaming up into the sky. He follows the light with his eyes up into the sky where he see a yellow halo of light surrounding... A Kryptonian Symbol? Nam-Ek reads the symbol...

"War" he mumbles. "Very well then Gotham... if it is war you want... it is war you shall receive."

* * *

><p><strong>Next Issue: The Climactic Conclusion to Reign: Gotham!<strong>


	13. Swamp Thing: Reign Part 1

**Reign of Krypton: Swamp Thing Part 1 **

**By James Brady**

**Writer's Note: This issue is set far before the current Swamp Thing story line, sort of like a mini prequel.**

* * *

><p><strong>Krypton, 25 Year Ago<strong>

The Avatar watches the metallic jungle known as Argo City from far on the mountainsides of Krypton. He feels his influence over the vast jungle and swamp lands of Krypton flex as he increases the amount of CO2 being produced and then decreases it like pumping lungs. He feels the bodies around him, fellow Kryptonians who have sided with the great Avatar, a great Kryptonian tradition till technology caught up with them. Their numbers are small but ancient living together in small communities. The Avatar feels the air around him as he spreads his great wings before reconsidering and contracting them.

"Avatar." A tribesman says stepping towards him. "We are ready. We wait your command."

"I am unsure it is the right time, Li'Har. They're powerful, their reach is far. I can't see inside their city. It has been so long. I have no idea what technological and military prowess they contain. They could be gods now all we know."

"Avatar I trust your judgment implicitly but please, we haven't made contact with the City Dwellers for over a thousand years. We probably no longer speak the same language, but they need to know of the terrible affects they're having on our planet. They must know of the problems their drills are causing in the core of the planet. They must be informed before it is too late."

"You are, Li'Har. I don't wish for you, my loyal followers to be harmed during the-" BWAKAM!

Li'Har's head explodes throwing brains and blood in a sudden shock wave of energy. The followers begin to panic and rush off in all directions with many of them also being killed by the shock waves. The Avatar grows large spikes all over his body and has roots explode from the ground. A huge Kryptonian Assault Ship lifts high above the mountain with huge Zeta Cannons all aimed on The Avatar. The doors of the ship ripple away to reveal a large man in power armour stepping out into the sunlight. He then leaps onto the mountain 5 feet away from The Avatar, followed by a huge tank like man and a slender but dangerous woman both dressed in impressive military armour. All of them hold Sonic Rifles. The leader steps forward.

"By The Nightwing, what could this be, Kelex?"

A small robot drone floats beside The Leader.

"This is The Avatar, General Zod. Once thought to be a myth worshipped by Ancient Kryptonian tribes for years but has since been abandoned to a thing of the past since 3,000 Kr. He and his tribe of natives have been spotted by our drones over the past three weeks patrolling through the jungles and mountain ranges around Argo City. The Avatar is believed to be an extremely dangerous force, sir. Caution is advised."

"Hrm. I thought this would be fun." Zod replies.

He turns back to the Avatar who seems to be shouting at them in a language he cannot understand. He rolls his head towards Kelex.

"Translate him will you. He seems to be speaking in ancient Argonian."

"You killed them!" The Avatar bristles with anger.

"They're un-evolved savages siding with a dangerous ally. It is no loss to Krypton."

"We came in peace, you bastard!"

"I'm not a peace talker, Green Man. Now if you're quite finished, you can either hand yourself over to us now, or we will take you by force and hunt down the rest of your uncivilised animal friends and have them killed also."

The Avatar looks towards the huge cannons mounted on the side of the Assault Ship and feels the writhing anger of the green beneath his feet.

"I'll hand myself to you." He says with a gasp. "But you must listen to me first; all of Krypton is in great danger. I can feel at this very moment your drills deep into the Earth and it is causing great instability to the Core. If you continue with your drilling the planet's core could become unstable and combust! You take the drills out now."

"Yeah?"

Zod turns and looks at his fellow soldiers.

"Did you two know about this?"

"No sir. I don't really keep up to current affairs too much though." Faora says.

"Dunno." Nam Ek replies.

"Excellent." Zod says turning back to the Avatar. "Have him sedated."

The Avatar is suddenly overwrought with agony all over his body as he feels plants crying and screaming in his ear as the panic begins to settle into his body, all over like a psychic rash. He falls to his knees, the stabbing tearing sensation all over his body. He tries to jump to another body but concentration just makes the pain worse. He is powerless till he eventually gives out and collapses.

* * *

><p><strong>2013, Earth, Louisiana<strong>

"I haven't... slept in weeks... This... new body of mine is slow but... never tired... I feel strong but... at the same time tireless... Abbie has been coming more... often now... and... I like it... when she's here... She brings me food and water... but I can't seem to digest it... and I usually end up having... to pull it out of my stomach... a few days later as it just begins to... rot inside of me... I like the way she looks at me like I'm... normal..."

Swamp Thing stops and looks down at the water he's sitting in. He lifts some moss from the murky water and tries desperately to feel it's sensation before dropping it back in the water. He looks over to Abbie, as she finishes writing the last thing he said.

"I'm... sorry about that." He murmurs.

"About what?" Abbie says looking at him from the notepad. She wears a light t-shirt and jeans with the ends rolled up to her knees. A flower sits perfectly in her pale white curly hair that is currently tied up in a bob. She sits on the banking on the small pond above Swamp Thing as he lies in the water.

"I shouldn't have said... what I said... I didn't mean... to make it awkward..."

"No it's fine. I'm glad you um, appreciate the way I look at you, I suppose. You look really nice at the moment. Is it a summer thing? The flowers?"

"I have no idea... Abbie. I've... only been like this for a ...few weeks now. You think... I'll adapt to my surroundings?"

"Yeah. You seem to be able to re grow parts of your body and things seem to grow around you sometimes. It makes sense you'll change depending on the time of year. "

"I can feel... photosynthesis... happening inside of me. The light… rejuvenating my body."

"Could you make me an apple? Have you ever tried growing fruit before?"

"I've never tried… growing anything… before except… healing parts of my body."

He stands up with water splashing off him and plopping back into the pond. He rose out his hand and tries to imagine an apple as hard as he can. He scrunches up his face but nothing seems to happen as he starts growing thick thorns across his body as he begins to take a bark like quality.

Abbie begins to laugh as he looks a bit ridiculous covered in the thorns and bark while scrunching his face up and gritting his teeth. Suddenly the thorns turn into bright pink blossoms all over his body and Abbie stands in the pond, astonished. She begins to notice the trees around her with pink petals fall all around them. Swamp Thing continues to try and grow out the fruit, curled forward his hand still trying to create an apple. When suddenly BWOOF!

Abbie looks up to see the petals all falling from the trees, apples begin to rain down around them Swamp Thing, who is now covered in apples from his own body, takes Abbie under his arm and leads her away from the hailstorm of apples as they all fall from the tree. The get away from the pond and crouch under a tree as they watch the hundreds of apples and pollen begin to cover the small pond falling with loud sploshed into the water.

"Is that enough... for you... Abbie?" Swamp Thing asks.

They both look at each other and begin to laugh as they hold each other. They look into each other's eyes for a few moments feeling scared but also extremely intimate.

"I... I... Abbie..." Swamp Thing begins before Abbie cuts him off.

"I… uh, think the apples have stopped um raining."

"Yeah... I suppose they have..."

Abbie gets up and grabs her notepad. He resets her bob on her head before looking over at Swamp Thing.

"I'd best get going. Great stuff today by the way. This is always really interesting, Alec."

"Okay... I'll see you tomorrow or... whatever."

"Bye, Alec."

She goes to pat him on the shoulder before grabbing her shoes and leaves. He watches her as she goes till she's out of sight. He looks at the cracked apples lying all around him.

* * *

><p><strong>The Phantom Zone, 25 Years ago, 4 Days Later<strong>

Unconsciousness isn't something The Avatar has felt for almost 20 thousand years and now it's struck him. He bubbles back to consciousness but his every instinct is different. He's not on Krypton anymore. He feels the life around him, almost inexistence but he can still feel the null void left by technology around him. As he grows back into consciousness he feels that he cannot move his limbs. His eyes pop open as he realises that he's being constrained in a large machine with wires sticking into his body. He look around to see Kryptonian Scientists walking around a large laboratory, taking samples from his body and putting them in small jars.

"He's conscious." One of the Scientists says looking over at The Avatar. "Should we call security?"

Another scientist replies, "No. We've got the samples we need. He's powerless off world anyway."

"Where am I? Why can't I feel The Green?"

"You can't feel the Green because there's no Green left to feel." One of the Scientists says stepping toward him. "Krypton is dead."

"Dead?"

"Yes. It turns out you were correct. Krypton's Core was unstable but something went "wrong" with our machines and the drill's got out of control and caused the core to combust. You happy now?"

"You brought this upon yourselves, you know."

"Oh we know, and we've reaped the consequences, dearly green man."

"Where are we?"

"The Phantom Zone; a pocket dimension we used to use for Interstellar travel but turns out to contain land inside of it of which where we are know."

"What did you just take from me?"

"DNA. We're going to attempt to recreate your ability to grow materials to help us grow food. We could be trapped in the Phantom Zone forever now, may as well make the most of it."

"Allow me to go. I wish you no harm. I don't suppose anything matters anymore."

"Probably doesn't."

* * *

><p><strong>Now, The Phantom Zone<strong>

The Avatar sits high on one of the mountains of The Phantom Zone meditating. His body has grown thinner and less exotic look after the years without the Green. He sits calmly looking away from the Kryptonian Settlement down below him. He hears a young voice call to him.

"Avatar! Mister Green! The Council wants to talk to you!"

"Tell them I'm busy."

"They say it's very important. They say it has something to do with a New Planet!"

"... Does this planet have life on it?"

"I think they said things live there. They said something about making it into a new Krypton."

The Avatar gets to his feet atop the ridge and looks down onto the settlement. He sees the young boy dressed in Kryptonian Casual ware looking up at him.

"You coming or what? ... Sir?"

Suddenly, without warning, The Avatar falls gracefully from his perch down the side of the mountain. The child watches in horror as he is about to his the ground when he suddenly for the first time in years, sprouts magnificent wings and flies off towards the Settlement.

"Hey! C'mon! Don't leave me here."

The Avatar lands outside of the small Kryptonian Tower as troops mobilise around him and the people. No one pays any notice of The Avatar. He enters the tower and walks through a door to see the Council sitting around a table. Zod and Jor-El's seats are empty.

"Hello. You wanted to see me, Council men?"

"Ah, Avatar." An old bearded man says standing up. "According to General Zod, the Phantom Zone was opened on another planet that has suitable living conditions for Krypton, however when the time is right, we want you to go to this land and using your powers to terraform it, to make it seem exactly like Krypton. A new Krypton."

"Very well. Are we expecting any resistance?"

"There are some primitive life forms on the Planet, but I believe we shall be able to cultivate them quickly. This terraformation should help a lot with this process."

"Anything to get back in contact with the Green, Councilman, without it I feel... starved... parched all these years."

"Now now Avatar, we will all be restored shortly."

* * *

><p><strong>Earth, The Arctic Circle:<strong>

The Avatar surrounded by The Council steps out onto the frozen land and almost instantly connects with the Green, like a beacon of light finally seeing the sun after sailing through endless darkness for years, but this sun is different. It interacts with him in different ways and he doesn't feel fully accepted into the fold. He outstretches his arms and his fingers become long tendrils that burrow deep down through the ice, into the water and to the depths of the sea. The tendrils burrow further until they meet life, algy living at the bottom of the floor and he's in.

He falls through the cracks of the green like a little blue sinking pebble watching out for the ruins of large sinking ships. This green is a mess; there is no segregation between plant life and human life... they live in harmony like some kind of symbiotic hybrid... The Avatar connects himself to a root of life and follows it to a large swirling Galaxy of energy that seems to be at the centre of the Corps. He squints his eyes and see's a man, a tall skinny blonde human at the centre of the nebulous. This is their Avatar.

The Avatar snaps out of his trance like state and turns to the Council.

"Well... what did you see Avatar?"

"I found their Green. It's far more different than the one I dealt with back on Krypton, and it needs to be eviscerated and remade for it to be compatible with our needs. It will take time, but I should be able to designate the segregated areas over time, however, they currently possess and Avatar thus meaning I won't be able to construct this new version of The Green. He is a young avatar and doesn't seem too advanced as of yet. I shall deal with him swiftly."

The Avatar gets to his feet, spreads his wings and flies off into the Sky.

* * *

><p><strong>Louisiana, Swamps<strong>

"It's been… a couple of days… now, and Abbie hasn't returned. Was it something … I said? Was it… something I did? Oh don't… fool yourself. It's because of… the way you look, a massive… pile of moss… and grass and mud all… slapped together to be… the cruellest joke… the planet's ever seen."

He stares at his ugly reflection in the water before getting up again and wandering off into the Swamps.

"The only time I ever feel… normal is when Abbie looks at me… or when I lie down… and pretend to sleep at night. When I'm at… peace I can… feel some great kind… of powerful sensation writhing in… the ground beneath me… but also all around me, in the trees… and in the soil and… in the air, like some kind of life force… and I feel a part of it. I feel like I'm one… with this life force… but I don't quite understand the language… it's speaking to me. I don't quite understand… the way it wants me to interact with it. I should try… and develop my powers. When… I grew all those apples with Abbie… I felt that force… like sensation around me. I wonder… what else I can do… given the right concentration. Maybe I could... grow a chair?"

Swamp Thing reaches out his arm and begins to envision a chair, with legs and arms woven together with wood and bark used for the back to support it and maybe it could rock back and forth.

Swamp Thing steps back and looks at the mess he's created; it looks like someone tried to draw a chair while not looking at the page, the arms are sticking out at different angles and the legs are all over the place.

Swamp Thing is about to try again when he suddenly feels something come over him, a great powerful shockwave of psychic energy pass over him, it's the nighttimes sensation but channelled into a painful force. He falls to his knees and clutching his head before he throws his head back to see a blip in the sky coming towards him at break neck speeds.

WHAMBOWM!

Trees and earth are thrown into the air for about 100 Meters apart leaving a huge crater in the ground. Swamp Thing hurtles to the ground covered in his own fluids and lands with a loud BAM! He tries desperately to get oxygen into his synthesised lungs but nothing seems to be working in his body. He watches as the forest he once knew rains down around him. He tries to get to his knees but everything is wrought with pain. He stumbles through the crater trying to see through the huge dust clouds all around him. He soon realises that his body is healing again as he feels a new lenses grow over his eyes allowing him to see in through the dust. The green feels closer than ever now. He walks calmly through the dust till he seems a huge man made of exotic looking alien plants, he is almost throbbing with power as he stares at his hands feeling the new power that has been bestowed upon him by the photosynthesis. He has huge powerful wings that slowly fall and lose their texture and become a long extravagant cape.

Swamp Thing approaches him his fists up ready to fight. The Avatar turns slowly to greet him.

"Ah... Planet Earth's Avatar of The Green."

"Why did you… destroy my home? You… will pay for that!"

"Don't try and battle me, I know all about you Alec Holland; a young scientists working to try and take the Green and bend it to the will of mankind and thus became The Avatar of the Green for your arrogance. I find it disgusting that they chose you, but I suppose Earth's Green doesn't have that fantastic of a selection of Avatars as they seem to go through them like falling leaves."

The Avatar begins to stroll in a circle around Swamp Thing with his arms calmly behind his back, his cape following by his heels.

"On my planet I have been the unchallenged Avatar of The Green for thousands of years. I've watched Krypton become the war mongering civilisation that it is today and I sat and bided my time, but now I am here and I've been without The Green for far too long you see."

"Why are you… telling me all this?"

"Because I want you to understand who I am and why I'm about to what I'm about to do."

"What you're… about to do… is leave!"

The Avatar stops circling and looks at Swamp Thing.

"Come then. Force me to leave."

Swamp Thing rushes towards The Avatar and begins to punch him in the face with all his strength, The Avatar backs away allowing the hits to be made as blood begins to be thrown from his mouth with the blood growing small Kryptonian plants as they hit the ground. Swamp Thing punches till he's exhausted. The Avatar stands to his full height and looks down on Swamp Thing.

"I haven't bled in 3 thousand years, little Avatar. Excellent job, but your best wasn't enough, I'm afraid."

Swamp Thing tries to begin to reason with The Avatar but before he can The Avatar's cape turns back to wings that raise high above his head before coming down like kitchen knives cutting Swamp Thing's arms clean off. He cries out in pain with the next thing he knows is that with his left knife wing the Avatar has cut Swamp Thing's legs off and with the other wing which have now turned into thin strips of thick fabric are stabbing into Swamp Thing holding him up above the ground.

"Oh little Avatar... if only they had told you..."

Swamp Thing yells in pain as The Avatar plunges his hand inside of Swamp Thing's chest. He sees a bright green light coming from under his skin as he yells even louder, completely powerless under The Avatar's reign. Life soon falls from him like a leaf from a tree and he falls limply to the ground as the Avatar spreads his wings out to the side.

"Yes..." The Avatar whispers.

* * *

><p><strong>Next: The Conclusion to Swamp Thing: Reign! <strong>


	14. Reign: Rogues Part 3

**Reign of Krypton: The Rogues**

**Issue 3 of 3**

**Written by Bodhi Ouellette**

**Previously: The Rogues, a super villain team of crooks and enemies of the Flash were in the mists of being sent back to jail when the Kryptonians blasted the truck. They escaped, and The Rogues all return back into Central City to find that the Kryptonians had begun invading the city. They stood up against the Kryptonians, using whatever they could to fend them off, saving citizens and helping out the cities police and military. But this isn't going to stop their problems. Luckily, Captain Cold's on the job, and he has a plan in mind to stop the Kryptonians once and for all…**

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><p>"<em>So here's my plan…" <em>

_"So these guys; Kryptonians, are they? I'm going to assume that the ship up in the sky would have some sort of mirror somewhere inside. We're going to get ourselves inside that ship, through a mirror, courtesy of our good friend Mirror Master. From there, we split up into two teams. From there, we'll make our way into the main controls room, kick all of their alien asses and then drive the ship out of the city. And then we'll blow it up…"_

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><p>"Does that sound like a plan you can get behind?"<p>

A couple of army officials, police officers and Central City politicians stood before the Rogues, listening to Cold's strategy plan. Their expressions saw mixed reactions, which Cold could tell. They stayed silent for a long while. Cold was getting impatient.

"Well?" asked Cold. "Can I get **something **out of you guys?"

"It's... something," said one of the police officers.

"That's it?" said Heatwave. "That's all you have to say?"

"Sorry for our reluctance," said one of the politicians, "but we're still getting over the fact that all of you are helping us out with this whole mess."

"Yet you guys don't seem convinced," commented Mirror Master.

"You're criminals," spoke one of the soldiers. "And you don't even have any powers. What makes you think you can take out an entire ship?"

"Uh... have ya **seen **us what we've done today?" Captain Boomerang pointed out. "We've probably done a better job at stopping these punks than **you **guys could've. And we don't even **have **powers!"

"Face it," said Captain Cold. "You've got no one else left."

They all looked at each other, without any other options to pick, they complied. "Alright fine," said the General. "We give you the go ahead. Don't do anything stupid."

"Gee, thanks for the confidence," Captain Boomerang sarcastically said. "Really appreciate it. Don't come to us crying for us when we end up saving your asses."

Before the General could reply, another U.S. Soldier rushed into the room they were in.

"Mayor Fox! Mayor Fox! There's a Kryptonian who want's to speak with you!" the Soldier informed them, gasping for air. "And… and they want the Rogues out here too!"

"Well, ain't that just perfect," proclaimed Cold. "I've got another idea; Mirror Master, Heatwave, **you **guys go into the Kryptonian ship."

"Me? The hell, Cold," complained Heatwave. "You've seen how I've handled these punks. I can't even **damage **them!"

"That's why I'm sending you inside to burn the ships generators," explained Captain Cold. "Boomerang, Trickster and I will confront these Kryptonian guys-"

"Um… it's not a guy, sir," the Soldier corrected. "It's a **woman.** She was in Washington, D.C. with Zod. **Faora.**"

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><p><strong>Kryptonian Ship:<strong>

In the dark narrow hallways of the Kryptonian ships, Kryptonian soldiers stroll past a mirror. When the coast was clear, the Rogues appeared inside of the mirror. They all stepped outside from the Mirror. "We've made it inside," announced Mirror Master, trying to be as quiet as possible.

_"Ok, good," _Captain Cold said through the Bluetooth. _"Now hurry the #$% up, and blow the freaking engines up." _

"Already on it," said Heatwave. And the two proceeded on to their main objectives...

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><p>Outside of the Underground Base, above on the abandoned and wrecked streets of Central City, a small Kryptonian Ship flies down near the group outside, consisting of The General, the Mayor, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Trickster and an assortment of soldiers and police officers. The ships hatch doors opened up, and out came two Kryptonian soldiers, and the leader of the Central City invasion: Faora, General Zod's fearsome second-in-command of the Kryptonian forces. Faora quickly notices the two Rogue members standing up front of the group. She steps forward to the Rogue members.<p>

"Are you another one of this cities **defenders**?" Faora fearlessly asked of them.

The three were hesitant to reply back, fearing for what their answer might bring to them. Captain Cold finally grew a pair for the team, and stepped forward. "We're not," calmly answered Cold. "We're just a bunch of petty crooks that wield super awesome tech."

"So you are all just normal humans under those costumes of yours?"

"That'd be correct, yeah."

Faora was baffled. "Forgive me, I'm a bit unnerved that mere **humans **have been able to beat our kind. Have you seen what we can do?"

"Yeah. We have. Now I have a bunch of questions I want to ask you; who are you? What do you want?"

"I am Faora, second in command to General Val-Zod, and we are the Kryptonians. We traveled across the stars and passed lifeless solar systems and dead planets to come all the way here on a mission; to find ourselves a new home, by taking it away from** you**," explained Faora.

"If you're second in command, why are you here in Central City?" questioned Mirror Master. "Shouldn't you be doing other, better things to be doing, like conquering Canada or something?"

"General Zod has appointed many other Generals of the Kryptonian army to invade cities across the world. The superheroes known as Green Lantern, Flash and Kid Flash made an attempt to **attack **us in Washington, D.C. As such, Zod has **personally** assigned me to habilitate Central City, and eventually Coast City, as punishment for your heroes actions."

"Seem a bit unfair for us normal folks who were just minding their own business, but all right I guess," remarked Captain Boomerang.

"You dare upbraid the ways of a Kryptonian?" questioned Faora.

"Yeah," Boomerang verified. "You've got a **problem** with that?"

Faora smirked. "**Idiots,**" she said. "You have no **idea **what we are; what we can do. Our power: our strength: our **determination **is what drives us to succeed. So, you ignorant sacks of meat… let me show you what we can do..."

Faora leaped up into the air. When she came back down, she slammed into a small group of the soldiers and police officers, the force pushing them away. She left a crater where she stood, and when she turned back around to face Cold, Boomerang, and Trickster, she gave the three a glance that almost resonated into their soul. The kiss of death, for her eyes glowed red and out came the laser eyes. The lasers cracked through the pavement, but the Rogues were lucky to dodge it; the blasted ended up blowing up an entire building. The Mayor was quickly evacuated back inside, and all who were left to face Faora were the three Rogues members and the few soldiers left alive. Cold stood back up and blasted his Freeze Gun at Faora. Her right arm became covered in Cold's ice. Captain Boomerang followed that up by throwing a slew of explosive boomerangs at Faora. She managed to hit all of the boomerangs with her fists, taking no damage from it. But then Faora heard a small ticking underneath her. When she looked down, placed under her feet was a small jukebox. The jukebox exploded, launching Faora into a building. Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang looked back at Trickster with proudness.

"Nice job, Tricky," complemented Cold.

But Faora got herself out from the dented wall, just slightly bruised on her face, but nevertheless clean. "That all you've **got**?" said Faora.

"Ok, Micky," whispered Captain Cold. "Hurry up in there, will ya?"

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><p><strong>Kryptonian Ship:<strong>

Mirror Master and Heatwave snuck into a large room which held their intended objective; a large glowing ball of light, surrounded by the vast array of rings like the planet Saturn, continuously circling around the sphere, always moving, and always changing in size. The two stared at the engine in awe. "Wow," said Mirror Master. "You don't ever get to see one of these every day, do you?"

"Yeah," said Heatwave. "Looks nice, but we can't marvel at it for too long. We need to blow this Popsicle joint out of the sky. So, got any ideas?"

"Um… no."

"Well, shit. What do you think we **should **do?"

"More like what **can **we do to this? Think, Mick; what else in this room do you suppose we can use?"

"Don't look at me, **you're **suppose to be the smart one of the group."

"Yes, yes, but think about how we could blow this entire Engine up…"

They pondered for a full minute, thinking about all the possible ways they could destroy the Engine. Thinking of every possible situation they could do; heating it up, sending a full sized ship onto the Engine, or simply blowing it up (how they would do that was the next question). But then, Mirror Master came up with a brilliant plan.

"I've got it," Mirror Master proclaimed, pulling out his Mirror Gun out from its holster. "We'll **shrink **it."

"You sure that's going to work?"

Mirror Master pointed the gun at the Engine, and the blast shot right into the Engine. The Engine shrunk massively in size, until it was smaller than a jawbreaker. Heatwave looked amazingly dumbfounded.

"I can't believe that **worked,**" Heatwave professed.

"Me neither," replied Mirror Master. "But I doubt whatever I did was good, so we should probably book it."

"Yep."

The two sprinted out from the room as fast as they could to avoid whatever might happen to the Engine. They returned to the Mirror they came through, just in time to evade an oncoming swarm of Kryptonian soldiers from arriving to check on the Engine. Once they left, the Engine exploded; the fire and cosmic rays spread through the doors like the wind.

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><p>Back down on the ground, Faora continues to give the Rogues the upper hand with her enhanced strength and agility, amongst her other abilities. Every move the Rogues make that would result in some sort of hit, Faora would retaliate with something harder than that. Needless to say, their work was not cut out for fighting a Kryptonian such as Faora. Yet, they still stand. A case that even makes Faora confused, but intrigued. Trickster attempted to use a charged up boxing glove on Faora, which did nothing to hurt her. She flicked Trickster away with her hand, smashing him into a window. Captain Boomerang threw another set of boomerangs, but none of them even made Faora flinch. When he tried to grab some more boomerangs, he found out he had no more. This prompted Faora to grip Captain Boomerang's wrist and broke it with little force. Boomerang screamed in agony, as she threw him back down on the floor. Cold was the only one of the Rogues left. Cold, without any options, aimed his freeze gun at Faora's head. Luckily, the blast hit her head, covering it with thick ice. This distracted Faora for a short time, until her laser beams burned through the ice. Then she sped forward towards Cold, slapped his gun from his hand, and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up in the air.<p>

"You and your friends **fascinate **me," Faora admitted. "How you've been able to last so long against such gods like me. You all fought a valuable fight. But now, it is time for you to perish."

"Thats-" Cold said gasping for air. "-That's what **you **think…"

Suddenly, they could see a massive explosion rupture the outside of the Kryptonian Ship. It started to decent down, off into the forest away from Central City. Faora watched as her ship began to fall.

"What?!" she cried out. "But how-"

"-Y'see that? That's what **we **can do to you…"

Faora turned around to see Mirror Master and Heatwave, who have returned from blowing up the Kryptonian Ship. Soldiers rounded out from the bunker, and they surrounded Faora, sticking their weapons at her. Faora dropped Cold onto the ground, seeing as the conquest to take over Central City has failed.

"Kryptonians…" she said, through some sort of speaker that's inside of her suit. "The battle has been lost. We've been defeated. Return now to General Zod, immediately."

Faora leaped up into the air, while the soldiers, and Rogues members watched as she does so. The other surviving Kryptonians followed her out of the city. With them gone, the soldiers raised their weapons and screamed a cry of victory. They had won back Central City, thanks to the help of some powerless super villains. Cold looked at Mirror Master and Heatwave with glee.

"We did it, guys," Captain Cold said. "We saved the city."

"Indeed," spoke Mirror Master. "And now, the city hates us even less."

"Hopefully not…"

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><p><strong>Washington, D.C.:<strong>

The Capital of the United States of America has been occupied by the Kryptonian army, and is the current base for the Kryptonians. Hovering above the city is a bigger, narrower Kryptonian Ship, which acts as the main base for the Kryptonian army for the North American continent.

Inside of the control bay of the ship lays General Val-Zod, leader of the Kryptonians, staring out at the city of Washington, feeling his accomplishments of the cities takeover. Behind him, Faora and a few other high Kryptonian soldiers follow her inside. Her face shows disgrace, and failure. She kneels down to her leader.

"General Zod," said Faora. "I'm sorry. The invasion of Central City has failed. Our ship was destroyed, and a team of powerless **villains** has extinguished most of our forces**.** Forgive me, for I have failed you."

Zod turned around and walked over to the kneeling Faora. He brings his hand over to Faora's chin, and lifts her head up so he can stare at her. "I already know, Faora," said General Zod. "And I am **very **disappointed in it. But the loss of the city is of no concern to me anymore. Central City **and **Coast City will suffer dearly, and we will make sure of that."

"Yes. We will."

"Don't be so dispirited, Faora. You left the city with half of our men still standing. But now we must be more vigilant. We cannot endure more failures upon us. But now you must depart. I am sending you to Atlantis."

"Yes, General Zod."

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><p><strong>Central City:<strong>

As cleanup for the city began, the Mayor was with all of the Rogues members, taken care of for their broken bones, cuts and bruises. "I cannot thank you more for your services in stopping the Kryptonians from taking over this city," the Mayor applauded. "I wonder what Flash will think of this when he comes back to Central City."

"His jaw will drop to the floor, I think. Also, the help was no problem," Captain Cold replied back. "It was the least we could do after our truck got blown up… speaking of which."

"Don't worry, you five; you won't be going back to jail," informed the Mayor. "I'm making sure of that. You'll all free men, just as long as you don't commit any more crimes."

"Can't promise anything, buddy," said a beaten Captain Boomerang. "As a matter of fact, I'm **leaving **this city once all'f this crap is over."

"I would have to agree to that," said Mirror Master. "Central City's just gotten too **crazy.**"

"I think we can all agree to that, guys," stated Captain Cold. "As of now, The Rogues are disbanded. We're all going our separate ways. This'll mean that Flash won't have to deal with us on a weekly basis."

"Well, in that case, I hope you all have a good life away," said the Mayor. "May whatever you decide to do, it does not involve robbing banks."

Captain Cold looked back at his colleagues, then back to the Mayor.

"I think we'll all figure something out…"

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><p><strong>The battle for Central City is over! The Rogues have won! To see the continuing story, read the following Reign of Krypton Issues! To see the aftermath of the Central City battle, tune in a few weeks for a Reign of Krypton: The Flash one shot!<strong>

**Though the Rogues have been disbanded, that doesn't mean it will be the last we'll see of them! The whole team will be back in the next arc of The Flash, and they'll be equipped with some bigger upgrades!**


End file.
